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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26013247">Dragonseye / Red Star Rising: A Novel-Length Diss Track</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept'>silveradept</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Suck Fairy's Greatest Hits: The Dragonriders of Pern [19]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abuse, Corporal Punishment, Crimes Against Humanity, Exoticization, F/M, Fat People As Comedy, Fat Shaming, Homophobic Language, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Inner City Stereotypes, M/M, Manipulative Relationship, Meta, Misogyny, Mixing Kink And Business, Murder, Nonfiction, Patriarchy, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Racism, Sexism, Sexual Assault, Stereotypes, Swearing, Torture, Toxic Masculinity, Victim Blaming, White Flight Narratives, ablism, boundary violations</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2017-10-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2018-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:13:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>38,329</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26013247</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/silveradept/pseuds/silveradept</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A commentary read with excerpts of Dragonseye / Red Star Rising, a novel of the Second Pass of Pern, part of the Dragonriders of Pern novels.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Debera/Iantine (Dragonriders of Pern), K'vin/Zulaya (Dragonriders of Pern), M'leng/P'tero (Dragonriders of Pern)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Suck Fairy's Greatest Hits: The Dragonriders of Pern [19]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1663699</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Forget What You Know</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the Director's Cut of meta originally posted at <a href="https://slacktiverse.wordpress.com">Slacktiverse</a>.</p><p>Content notes for each chapter are in their respective posts, and all content notes in the work are in the tags.</p><p>Director's commentary will be rendered <i>[in a manner like this.]</i></p><p>This is Choose Not To Warn, because I can't figure out whether the boundary violations make it all the way to a proper non-con, whether the torture and harm that are described in a somewhat clinical manner are graphic enough to warrant the warning, whether Chalkin's eventual exile that is intended to end in his death qualifies as major character death, since he's the primary villain. This entire book runs right up to the line of where a clear Archive warning would be warranted and taunts us to cross the border to stop their provocation.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A new book, with a new time period to explore. At this point, it seems almost like a series trend - after the initial two series, it seems like there's a regular oscillation between Ninth (and Final) Pass Pern and some earlier Pass, sometimes in the service of providing some backstory to a thing referred to from the future. Maybe this one will follow the trend? And possibly help us learn how the society at Landing became the shell of itself that it was at the beginning of the Ninth Pass.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Prologue and Chapter 1: Content Notes: Misogyny, exoticizing</strong>
</p><p>Oh, Prologue, how I've missed you. Since this is a post-AIVAS Prologue, though, this have changed again. The ships that came to this new world have names now, and the science material about how the dragons came to be and the cyclic nature of Thread is much more prominent and detailed (now that another book has laid down the canon). At this point, it's already established that the First Pass lasted about fifty years, and that the period between passes should be about 250 years. And an insistence that the people who experienced the first one left plenty behind for their descendants to recognize the return and prepare for it.</p><p>So this is what happened 257 years later, we're told. And already there's some wobble in the calculations, clearly.</p><p>And since the Prologue assures us that plenty was left behind, Chapter One opens with Chalkin, Lord Holder of Bitra (quelle surprise!) expressing explicit skepticism about the return of Thread and pooh-poohing the ego-inflated dragonriders that keep appearing at his Hold with lists of instructions to be followed in preparation for another Threadfall. Maybe this is where Bitra Hold gets its infamous reputation from? <i>[Even if the way that Avril Bitra was described in her book would almost certainly preclude any hold or space being named after her at all, because nobody wants to remember her. Perhaps one hold that caught the reputation had its name involuntarily changed to Bitra Hold by others because it was a convenient shorthand being used by others and it stuck.]</i></p><p>So that we can be <em>very sure</em> that Chalkin is ignorant and foolish, he dismisses the increased violence of storms and the seismic activity as natural phenomenon (aided by his science orientation), refuses to post watchers looking for the red star in the sky, and dismisses dragons as a weird experiment and poor replacement for the airsleds (one of which is in Telgar Foundry as an exhibit) and that someone in the College could surely figure out alternatives based on all the records being copied. <i>[Airsleds with flamethrowers was a bad engineering kludge, and very dangerous. Dragons are also a bad engineering kludge and are very dangerous. I suppose the one advantage they have over airsleds is that dragons are organic, and so they don't require the planet to have the right kind of materials to be mined to keep them in working condition. Still, it's a time-honored Pernese tradition that the villains often end up articulating sensible objections and questions about Pernese society, but because they're villains, the ideas they raise will never be treated seriously.]</i></p><p>Smiths, check. Harpers, check.</p><p>Useful notes:</p>
<ul>
<li>Even at this time, Bitra Hold is already notorious for gambling. <blockquote>[...]even his gamesters were watching the sight. He'd have a word with them later. They should have been able to keep some customers at the various games of chance, even with the dragonrider display. Surely everyone had seen that by now. Still, the races had gone well and, with every one of the wager-takers <strong>his</strong> operators, he'd've made a tidy profit from his percentage of the bets.</blockquote>
<br/>
It's always a great worldbuilding exercise to leave out what those games of chance might be. Since it's Bitra, I would expect rigged games that never pay out.
</li>
<li>The famous Benden white sparkling wine makes its debut at this particular Gather. <blockquote>The wine was the only reason he had been willing to come to this gathering: and he'd half-suspected Hegmon of some prevarication in the matter. An effervescent wine, like the champagne one heard about from old Earth, was to have its debut.</blockquote>
</li>
<li>And also, everyone hates Chalkin. <blockquote>Paulin, Fort Hold's Lord, had lured one of the best chefs on the continent to his kitchens and the evening meal was sure to be good: if it didn't turn sour in his stomach while he sat through the obligatory meeting afterward. Chalkin had bid for the man's services, but Chrislee had spurned Bitra's offer, and that refusal had long rankled in Chalkin's mind.
[...Chalkin looks for excuses...]
He'd taken the trouble to go to Hegmon's Benden vineyard, with the clear intention of buying cases of the vintage. But Hegmon had refused to see him. Oh, his eldest son had been apologetic--something about a critical time in the process requiring Hegmon's presence in the caverns--but the upshot was that Chalkin couldn't even get his name put down on the purchase list for the sparkling wine. Since Benden Weyr was likely to get the lion's share of it, Chalkin had to keep in good with the Benden Weyrleaders so that, at the Hatching which was due to occur in another few weeks, he'd be invited and could drink as much of <strong>their</strong> allotment of wines as he could. More than one way to skin a wherry!
He paused to twirl one of the bottles in its ice nest. Riders <strong>must</strong> have brought the ice in from the High Reaches for Paulin. Whenever he needed some, he couldn't find a rider willing to do him, Bitra's Lord Holder, such a simple service. Humph.
[...what do the Telgar Weyrleaders think?...]
"Him!" She had absolutely no use for the Bitran Lord Holder and never bothered to hide it.</blockquote>
<br/>
When the wine is later sampled at the Weyrleader table, Chalkin will appear to ask for a refill from that bottle and be told to go back to his own table. Chalkin instead continues to make rounds of the other tables along from their bottles, so it's not that there's some irrational prejudice against the name Bitra this time - Chalkin appears to have earned most, if not all, of his animosity.</li>
</ul><p>There's a display of aerial feats on dragons, and a particular rescue dive draws admiration from the crowd and a strong set of rebukes from K'vin, the current Telgar Weyrleader, who made the rescue catch, at his partner in the stunt, P'tero, for not waiting for the correct signal. There's a safety harness that would prevent serious injury, which is likely the predecessor to the "riding straps" of their descendants, but K'vin is still unhappy.</p><p>We are also told that dragons have "gaps in their ability to correlate cause and effect", so P'tero's dragon wouldn't have connected "new straps" with "safety." I wonder if that loose causal correlation is what allows for draconic time travel. Doubt we'll find out. <i>[We don't, but the loose relationship that dragons have with time will be pretty important when we get to the Todd books.]</i></p><p>There's also an explanation as to why there are less women riding green dragons anymore.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>K'vin wished that more girls were available to Impress green dragons. Girls tended to be steadier, more dependable. But with parents keenly interested in adopting for more land by setting up cotholds for married children--and no dragonriders, male or female, were allowed to own land--fewer and fewer girls were encouraged to stand on the Hatching Grounds.</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <i>[Hello, Cocowhat. We've missed you, haven't we?]</i>
</p><p>That's claptrap I get to hear all the time about girls getting more mature than boys, especially in the context of classroom learning and reading skills. It's socialization that makes those girls more dependable, because those girls are being groomed to run a household, to be pretty and demure and to catch a husband so they can be someone else's problem as soon as possible. Girls have already become a bargaining chip in family power struggles, which I would like to believe makes the Ancients spin in their graves. More likely, though, there's probably some Randian explanation of how women are weaker and should be grateful that anyone takes them into protection instead of leaving them out to die in their infancy.</p><p>There should still be a pretty good supply of women for the Grounds, though - families with too many daughters and not enough dowries, or the headstrong girls that think they can be Lords or Crafters in their own rights, instead of arm trophies for men, and so on. Especially in places where the people would be all too happy to unload those women into the Weyrs, where they stop having to care about them.</p><p>There's a mention of Fort being powered by giant solar panel arrays, even though they lost a few to severe winter storms, and a response to Chalkin's earlier internal accusation of hypocrisy about Fort both being concerned about Thread and building buildings outside that said Thread would supposedly ravage. The buildings are apparently slate-roofed and with gutters that will drop the Thread into the water supply to drown it, and iron-wrapped wood underneath, along with stout walls. This outer expansion, we're told, is plan B, as the builders wanted to build in the caves, but cavern collapses and the utter refusal of the watchwhers to explore further has stopped the expansion plans.</p><p>Watchwhers, who have to this point been shown as night guards and Wind Blossom's ugly and apparently useless attempts to recreate the dragon program, are "mutant, blunt-winged, flightless photosensitive" creatures whose refusal to go places indicates "dangers human eyes couldn't see." As cave explorers, though, and especially as those things that human eyes can't see, it's a wonder they haven't been mentioned more by, say, the miners and the workers for whom cave collapse would be lethal. The myopia of the narrative on dragonriders is making it very difficult for a coherent worldbuild.</p><p>
  <i>[Where things will get extra galling is when the Todd books start at a mine, where there is…a single watch-wher for the entire mine, and watch-whers as feared and hunted by people, rather than every mine on the planet having a watch-wher nest to make sure there will always be enough of them to keep the miners safe from the dangers of the mine. Continuity is not a strong suit for Pern as a world, which gets highlighted even more as time travel becomes a central element of the Todd books with Fiona, but we're getting ahead of ourselves on those complaints.]</i>
</p><p>The narrative then tells us how K'vin came to be the Telgar Weyrleader in an open flight that he didn't expect to win. Mostly because he was sure he didn't have the experience to lead during Thread. And now that Thread is approaching, he's got nightmares. And he's hitting the equivalent of the books left behind by Sean and Sorka about how to fight Thread, recognize it, and the rest as his way of compensating for the nightmares. His Weyrwoman, Zulaya, is reassuring, telling him that his predecessor, B'ner, had worried and had nightmares as well. The narrative gives us an extra reason to believe her.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Zulaya could sound so <strong>sure</strong> of something, but then she was nearly a decade his senior and had more experience as a Weyrleader. Sometimes her intuition was downright uncanny: she could accurately predict the size of clutches, the distribution of the colors, the sex of babies born in the Weyr, and occasionally even the type of weather in the future. But then she was Fort Weyrbred, a linear descendant of one of the First Riders, Aliana Zuleita, and <strong>knew</strong> things. It was odd how the golden queens seemed to prefer women from outside the Weyrs--but sometimes a queen had a mind of her own and chose a Weyrbred woman, defying custom.</p>
</blockquote><p>This is probably the point where I should mention the other series that Anne McCaffery is known for writing by herself, the Talents series, which consists of three books written about a grouping of people with various psychic abilities banding together to become a powerhouse corporation to protect themselves and five books about a particular character, the Rowan, and her family, all of whom have powerful psychic abilities and are employed, essentially, as transporters across the cosmos from space station to space station. (And the alien species they encounter and have to deal with.)</p><p>Psychic abilities have always been present in the Pern series, right from the get-go with Lessa's ability to blur her identity and attempt to influence people. So it's less "whoa, where did these psychic powers come from?" and more "this might be the closest since the beginning that we're acknowledging psi powers exist in this universe outside of the dragons." It would be nice to have more clarity on this issue, but it is at least somewhat consistent that the earlier in Pern's history we are, the more obvious the psychic abilities are. I'm not sure if the author had a late idea to try and merge Pern into the Talents universe, or whether this is just a thing that has been studiously ignored and is now being picked back up again.</p><p>
  <i>[The Todd books will make this even more explicit, by having a specific precognitive as part of one of the traveling trader caravans, whose powers apparently pass down from parent to child  so that there's always a seer in every generation, and make several more implications that gold riders have various either telepathic or empathic powers, strengthening the never-actually-explicity-said worldbuild that gold dragons are specifically looking for women with psi powers to Impress.]</i>
</p><p>In addition to Zulaya being pretty clearly some form of precognitive, this relationship is one that seems to be both platonic and professional and personally intimate. There's talk of K'vin being in Zulaya's bed, mention of his lineage that goes back to Sorka herself (his great-great aunt), but Zulaya is also described as being "so...impersonal...that K'vin had to conclude that she hadn't gotten over B'ner's death yet." and that "she put her hand through his arm so that they would present the proper picture of united Weyrleadership. K'vin stifled a sigh that the accord was only for public display."</p><p>Remarkably unlike previous books in the series, that wasted no time in getting to their male gaze-y description of the Weyrwoman, we've spent a lot of time on the business of the Weyr and talking before Zulaya is described in the same way.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Zulaya was tall for a woman, long-legged--all the better for bestriding a dragon's neck. He was a full head taller than she was, which she said she liked in him. B'ner had been just her height. It was her coloring that fascinated K'vin: the inky black curly hair that, once freed of her flying helmet, tumbled down below her waist. The hair framed a wide, high cheek-boned face, set off the beige of her smooth skin and large, lustrous eyes that were nearly black; a wide and sensual mouth above a strong chin gave her strength and purpose which reinforced her authority with anyone. She strode, unlike some of the hold women who minced along, her steel-rimmed boot heels noisy on the flagstones, her arms swinging at her side. She'd had time to put a long, slitted skirt over her riding gear, and it opened as she walked, showing a well-formed leg in the leather pants and high boots. She'd turned the high-riding boot cuffs down over her calf, and the red fur made a nice accent to her costume, echoed in the fur trim of her cuffs and collar, which she had opened. As usual, she wore the sapphire pendant she had inherited as the eldest female of her Blood.<br/>
[...they discuss the earlier stunt fall...]<br/>
"You really should learn how to scowl menacingly." She glanced up at K'vin and then shook her head, sighing sadly. She had once teased him that he was far too handsome to ever look genuinely threatening, with the Hanrahan red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. "No, you just don't have the face for it."</p>
</blockquote><p>We note the difference of description between Zulaya, who gets a full camera pan, including the addition of a functionally useless skirt over the riding pants and boots (presumably to make her look more feminine while the male gaze is active) and descriptions of her jewelry, color choices, and her features, while K'vin gets a literal shortcut - Hanrahan red hair, blue eyes, and freckles. And he's taller than she is, even though she's apparently taller than most women. There are very few absolute descriptions of height - Lessa is diminutive, but is that just compared to everyone around her, or is she actually shorter than average? What is the average height on Pern, anyway?</p><p>Also, I think this is the first explicitly person of color Weyrleader we've had in all of these books. <i>[The comments to the original suggest that "beige" isn't a dark enough or odd enough color to suggest that Zulaya is anything more than a tanned white girl, but K'van specificically says he's attracted to her coloring. Which could mean the hair and eyes as contrast against the lighter skin, but if it is, that's a bad choice of language for trying to convey that it's the contrast that K'van likes, rather than "coloring" meaning something like her skin color and the color of her features as well.]</i> The description, though, wants me to envision <a href="https://maiwand85.deviantart.com/art/Barbarian-Girl-413339255">an attractive semi-practically clad person</a> rather than <a href="https://aerenwyn.deviantart.com/art/Commission-Namirah-387573977">a more properly-clad but less feature-showing person</a>, as a dragonrider that would be used to the extreme cold and the likelihood of fighting a skin-devouring parasite would wear. (<a href="http://bust.com/movies/193163-wonder-woman-armor-underwear.html">Like the ones designed for the 2017 Wonder Woman movie.</a>)</p><p>In essence, this particular description is aiming for <em>er</em>oticising Zulaya, while also <em>ex</em>oticising her. We know that several different ethnicities made the trip to Pern, but even in the far future, we're still apparently obsessed with making anyone of darker skin colors out to be hot. Even with all that time spent beforehand making her seem much more practical, although I now realize that this description, with the strong mention of her precognitive abilities, makes Zulaya more and more into someone's harmful stereotypes of a person of Romani descent.</p><p>
  <i>[And speaking of precognition, guess who the dark-skinned desert traders that have the precognitive are at least patterned partially on? Romani, Travelers, and caravan nomads, so we'll be seeing more harmful stereotypes about "exotic" people as we get further into the Fiona books.]</i>
</p><p>Which would mean it's a Sean and Sorka story, just genderflipped. This is not necessarily a bad idea, if both characters can ascend out of the possibility of being stereotyped awfully.</p><p>And we also have to deal with the part where K'vin is clearly at least in lust with Zulaya, who does not return that feeling to him, at least most of the time.</p><p>The actual plot, as it is, proceeds to an innocuous discussion of dragonriding, by teasing a shipmaster's wife about not having done so, and how riding a ship through storms should mean dragons are a breeze. The heckling stops briefly for everyone to sample the Benden white, and to tell Chalkin to piss off when he comes by to try and get wine from everyone else's bottles instead of his own. After a short discussion where people worry that Chalkin has enough of a following to make things difficult for those who want everyone ready for Thread, the food arrives, there is dinner, and then the meeting starts. K'vin hopes the music is still going when the meeting gets done, because apparently Zulaya is a great dancer, and she likes K'vin as a dance partner because he's tall. Zulaya comments on the art looking good, including the chairs and banners that have been created with Telgar Weyr's colors (black grain on a white field) before the meeting begins in earnest. Present are Lord Holders and their accompanying Weyrleaders, the Chief Engineer (Smith), the Chief Medic (Healer) and the Headmaster of the College (Harper). Of course it's those three, because of their descendants being so important later on. </p><p>With more than a little acid commentary at Chalkin when he makes a rude noise about the imminence of Threadfall, the meeting gets underway. Paulin, Fort Lord Holder, dismisses the idea that the wanderer would actually collide with Pern, based on calculations and the notes of the ancestors. With support from others, who have done and rechecked the calculations that came from AIVAS, Keroon, and Tillek. Paulin, and S'nan, descendent of Sean and Fort Weyrleader, go over the pathways the Fall will take when Thread arrives and the timetable of when it is likely to appear. Since this is the first time anyone will have a live-fire exercise, each Weyr will provide personnel for the first few falls to get experience for later on.</p><p>B'nurrin, Igen's Weyrleader, makes a sensible comment suggesting that everyone get their fighting experience by practicing on the Falls that will fly over the Southern Continent before anything comes North, but this is treated as shocking by other Weyrleaders and dismissed. Although K'vin privately supports the idea and thinks that if he were to take a few wings of riders southward, he would find a practice partner in B'nurrin.</p><p>The conversation shifts to ground crew logistics - Master Kalvi, the Chief Engineer, says that everyone should get their allotment of HNO<sub>3</sub> tanks, but they'll have to make the flamethrower fuel on site, and there will be demonstration and practice with the ground crews before Thread arrives. The Chief Medic indicates everyone will be trained in first aid and burn control.</p><p>A useful note is that the language is shifting at this point - S'nan insists on using "Year" rather than "Turn", which is coming into use by younger people. Additionally, numbweed and fellis juice are namechecked as part of the standard first aid kit at this point.</p><p>The report on the Weyrs is that they are fully staffed and supplied and ready to go fight. The Holds have filed their reports, except Nerat, who is having trouble controlling the vegetation and wild weed growth, and Bitra, who essentially has been flying the middle finger about this, and continues to do so, expressing his disbelief that Thread will return. When asked for what proof he wants, Chalkin says that an AIVAS report would help. (Landing is, of course, buried, and nobody has been able to find the building that houses it because the ash blanket has obliterated anything that might serve as a referent.)</p><p>Then, in fine Pern tradition, Chalkin gets to voice all of the things about the return of Thread that should inspire skepticism, as well as several of the plot holes that we've brought up before.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Chalkin's grin was patronizing. "A spaceborne organism? That drops on a large planet and eats everything it touches? Why wasn't Pern totally destroyed during previous visitations? Why is it every two hundred years? How come the Exploration Team that did a survey of the planet before it was released to our ancestors to colonize...how come they didn't see any evidence? Ah, no," Chalkin said, flicking the notion away from him with his begrimed hands, "ridiculous!"</p>
</blockquote><p>He's still right that it sounds ridiculous. To the last point about evidence, the others will bring up the rings that the exploration and rescue teams discovered, but that will doesn't explain away how life survives on a planet where an extinction event happens every two hundred years.</p><p>And if Pern's orbit is roughly the same period as Terra's, that means that if the last Pass finished when the United States puts its official birthday in 1776, the next Pass would have begun in Jimmy Carter's first term as President and continued through at least President number 46. That's a long time of innovation and new things being present, except that Pern is supposed to be degrading gracefully rather than actively driving forward. Skepticism is a thing to be expected when the last ten generations have not had any experience with world-destroying events.</p><p>[It doesn't even have to be ten generations - bad government will do just fine all by itself, if you look at the way that SARS-CoV-2 has been handled in the United States, despite regular influenza outbreaks and all the evidence of how to respond properly to a pandemic that has been ignored by a government more interested in political points than in public health.]</p><p>That said, there is precedent that Chalkin is not living up to his end of the bargain.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Oh, Chalkin believes in the Charter all right," Paulin said sardonically. "The patent conferring the title of 'Lord Holder' on the original northern stake-holders is what gives his line the right to hold. And he's already used the Charter to substantiate his autonomous position. I wonder if he also knows the penalty for failing to prepare his hold. That constitutes a major breach of the trust..."<br/>
"Who trusts Chalkin?" G'don asked.<br/>
"...the trust that holders rest in the Lord of their hold in return for their labor."<br/>
"Ha!" said Bridgely. "I don't think much of his holders either. Useless lot on the whole. Most of 'em kicked out of other holds for poor management or plain laziness."<br/>
"Bitra's badly managed, too. Generally we have to return a full half of his tithings," M'shall said. "Half the grain is moldy, the timber unseasoned, and hides improperly cured and often rancid. It's a struggle every quarter to receive decent supplies from him."</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <i>[And another Cocowhat, one of many for this work.]</i>
</p><p>So, apparently, Pern <em>wasn't</em> intended to continue as Rand's paradise away from anywhere after Thread fell, but a feudal planet with vassalage as the core method of survival and a hereditary oligarchy that prevents anyone who isn't already at the top from exercising direct power over their own lives and lands. The narrative attempts to run a distraction in this revelation by following out immediately with the knowledge that Article Fourteen of the Charter has a provision for a Lord Holder to be impeached by the council for dereliction of duty, but that's essentially the peerage deciding to revoke a title and grant of lands (which would be a function of the Crown) and hope that some other peer would be more suitable for them.</p><p>It doesn't even take a unanimity of the council to impeach; agreement among the "major holders and leaders" is sufficient, and there doesn't have to be a trial conducted for it. The Benden Lord and Lady Holder offer refugee stories as evidence that Chalkin is</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"come as near to bending, or breaking for that matter, what few laws we do have on Pern. Shady dealings, punitive contracts, unusual harsh conditions for his holders..."<br/>
[...Paulin wants to see them, and then delivers this gem...]<br/>
"Autonomy is a privilege and a responsibility, but not a license for authoritarianism or despotic rule. Certainly autonomy does not give anyone the right to deprive his constituents of basic needs. Such as protection from Threadfall."</p>
</blockquote><p>I think we have very different definitions of what autonomy means. I also think that this interpretation is flatly contradicted by the material present in the books about the colonists, who very much seemed of the opinion that everyone should be able to have absolute rule within the boundaries of their domains. If the Charter got amended between then and now, that's worth pointing out, but I think we're supposed to believe that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, even though the "Die Eurasia Die!" banners are still present.</p><p>There's one additional wrinkle to be smoothed if Chalkin gets the boot. His successor has to be of the same bloodline. Which could mean, practically, that they are deposing Cesare to install Lucrezia. Instead of being able to grant the whole stock to a different bloodline entirely.</p><p>All of this is just a giant headache.</p><p>
  <i>[Third! A third cocowhat, ah, ah, ah!]</i>
</p><p>
  <i>[Also worth noting is that while there's an impeachment and removal part of the Charter, it begs the question of who has standing to bring the charge against Chalkin for his failure to go through with noblesse oblige, and who the higher authority is that will enforce it against him. Even if the council of Lords decide Chalkin is no longer Lord of Bitra and someone else is, to actually remove him will require either a concerted military effort to depose him, some form of intrigue and/or assassination to dispose of him, or getting the dragonriders involved to either commit violence against him or his belongings to force him into surrendering. We saw how well getting the dragonriders involved worked with Fax, and the complications that it presented. By the end of this book, of course, we'll see one way that a successful campaign can be waged against Chalkin, but there's a lot of misery in between here and there.]</i>
</p><p>As for the plot, the remaining business is to approve the construction of a mining hold in mountains where the ore can be gathered and processed faster than it would take to work them in the Telgar mines, so that production on flamethrowers and other equipment can get done in time for Threadfall (approved), and for Clisser to get new students in the scientific arts trained for use in sextants and for everyone to develop a safeguard - permanent, indestructible, and unambiguous - so that later generations will not succumb to viewpoints like Chalkin's on the validity of Thread. But it has to be essentially usable in a situation where all the technology and learning of the current time has been lost. The chair concurs of the necessity, and tasks Clisser with figuring it out.</p><p>There's an offhand remark about keeping the language pure in relation to the idea of a Rosetta Stone being used to encode the necessary information. Nobody laughs in the face of this remark, even though the Rosetta Stone itself is proof that languages can change rapidly in the same geographic space over time.</p><p>With no new business, the meeting adjourns, and so does the chapter. It's going to be an interesting journey from here to the eventual creation of the stone creations that will eventually be what the Benden Weyrleader uses so far in the future to convince his people of the return of Thread.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. More Origin Stories</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last time, we spent a chapter disparaging the Bitran Lord Holder, whether by narrative or by other characters, so as not to have to confront our own likely skepticism about the return of an ancient menace. The remaining leaders of the planet agreed on the necessity of constructing obvious warnings to their descendants for the next time Thread came around.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter II: Content Notes: Ablism, Misogyny</strong>
</p><p>The other faculty at the College are unhappy at Clisser's decision to take on the task of warning the next generations, wondering where they will get the time to do this task, and whether it fits in their remit.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Our main function," said Danja, taking up the complaint--she wanted spare time in which to work with her string quartet, "is to teach youngsters who would rather ride dragons or acquire many klicks of Pernese real estate to use the wits they were born with. And to brainwash enough youngsters to go out and teach whatever they know to our ever-widely-spreading population."</p>
</blockquote><p>That sounds suspiciously like an honest assessment of the Harper mission, does it not?</p><p>The parallels continue, with a class getting an assignment to do the research on what would be an effective temporal safeguard and a suggestion that a lot of knowledge should be encoded into musical form and taught to the very younglings. With continued grumbles about time, the grouping steps up to the stage to perform a set of music with the intent of giving way to what the juniors "so erroneously call 'music'," proving that you will see plenty of people complaining about the music of the young, even this far in the future.</p><p>The prodigy student that joins them, Jemmy, has already been plenty praised for his polymath abilities, even though his parents had thought him learning-disabled. Having lasted only a few voyages as a fisher, due to constant motion sickness, he was recommended to the College, and now thrives there, sucking up all the knowledge he can and proving to be an impressive copyist that can note and correct the mistakes of other copyists, as well as translating and expanding upon the notes left behind by the settlers.</p><p>He's also got a crush on Bethany, who is</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>consistently kind and encouraging to everyone but refused to accept any partner. She had long since decided to never inflict her deformity [a club foot] on offspring, and refused any intimacy, even a childless one.</p>
</blockquote><p><em>The very next sentence</em> has Clisser speculating whether Jemmy would be able to "breach the wall of her virginity," which has bad callback echoes to times where dragonriders have ignored the consent and stated wishes of their partners. This time, though, we're assured it would be good for everyone - Clisser thinks Bethany cares for Jemmy, that Bethany deserves love, that there's contraception available, and that, despite the age difference (and that they've known each other for thirty years at this point), Jemmy "desperately needed the balance that a fully-rounded life experience would give him."</p><p>
  <i>[Have a double helping of cocowhat here. Because aie! And also...]</i>
</p><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>NO. Not just for "what part of <em>childfree</em> do you not respect, you asshole," but also "Neurotypicality is not the Holy Grail of anything at all, you asshole." It doesn't matter how much anyone might think the match is a great one, it's up to exactly two people to decide whether they want to embark on a relationship - Jemmy and Bethany.</p><p>Hopefully, this is the last we hear of this. Ever. <i>[Narrator: This will not be the last we hear of this.]</i></p><p>The narrative, instead, had Clisser putting the idea of teaching songs into Jemmy's head, who starts composing immediately a song and tune that will essentially be the first of many propaganda pieces about how everyone owes the dragonriders for their safety and security. Clisser leaves Jemmy to his work, and hopes the computers will have enough in them to complete the research task. And is annoyed at parents who are trying to get their students into computer classes for the prestige rather than any aptitude for the work and the machines. As well as a parent complaining about her daughter associating with "lesser breeds without the law" as one of the other faculty put it.</p><p>Who would have thought that a system that relies on inheritance of blood relatives would develop blood purists and supremacists. I'm sure everyone is shocked, shocked, I say.</p><p>Clisser has A Brilliant Idea about education, though.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>What was the point of teaching students subjects now rendered useless here on Pern? Like computer programming and electronic maintenance? What good did it do to the Pernese boys and girls to know old geographic and political subdivisions of Terra? Useless information. They'd never go there! Such matters did not impinge on their daily lives. What was <strong>needed</strong> was a complete revision of learning priorities, suitable to those who were firmly and irrevocably based on this planet.<br/>
[...Out with anything to do with space, human history, or other planets! Study just the Charter - start history with Landing!...]<br/>
And further, Clisser decided, taken up with the notion, we should encourage specialized training--raising agriculture and veterinary care to the prestige of computer sciences.<br/>
[...teach the things that apply to Pern - husbandry, metalworking, reading maps, fishing currents - not art or veterinary science as it was on Terra...]<br/>
As to that, why not separate the various disciplines so that each student would learn what he needed to know, not a lot of basically useless facts, figures, and theories?</p>
</blockquote><p>And with the addition of the beginning of an apprenticeship system, we have the Crafts of Pern sketched out. The additional wrinkle is that the kids should be tested at six and twelve on their aptitudes to see which Craft they would best apprentice in to.</p><p>It's easy for us to note how awfully this turns out, by having the advantage of having seen two thousand years into the future of Pern and the complete devolution of technology and science into static Crafts that often refuse the idea of innovation on its face, but we can also note that this is going to turn out badly because excising those trivial bits and boring facts and figures essentially deletes the ability to innovate in wild, genre-smashing ways and limits the ability to improve mostly to refinement. The basics might be preserved in music and song, taught by anyone, but guild specialization makes it highly unlikely that the Weavers and the Fishers and the Timbersmiths are all going to design a better sailboat, each using the innovations and refinements of their Craft to help out the others.</p><p>That, and much like the system of priests that taught a little bit of knowledge in Terran history and then generally suppressed anything that didn't fit their worldview, restricting education to what you "need to know" is a system that is rife for abuses, power plays, demagoguery, and making classes of people more important than others, because they hold the keys to knowledge and can force orthodoxy among their members and the society.</p><p>
  <i>[Also pointed out in the comments is that this is exactly the wrong time in Pernese history for these decisions to be made, with the ancient menace on its way back in for another pass. The right time to have handled these kinds of things would have been at the end of the last pass, after everything's been destroyed and stock taken of what's left. That gives the society an entire two hundred and fifty years of the new paradigm to get used to it and to build up the reserves of knowledge and material that will be useful for when the next pass comes through. Unless, of course, we're willing to posit that doing this as the end of the last pass was the plan, and the College is supposed to be a hopelessly nonfunctional academic entity that they couldn't find their own asses with two hands and a map for two centuries plus. Given what we have seen and will see of Pern, that hypothesis hold water.]</i>
</p><p>That's essentially chapter II - the birth of the Craft system, the ascendancy of the Harpers as the most important craft, the deliberate excision of the subjects most likely to provide innovation and warnings to the future about not adopting certain governmental systems, and the decision to use music as the vehicle of delivering propaganda and instruction to the masses when the inevitable fracturing and failure of a united, technologically advanced Pern happens. Likely within the next Pass.</p><p>And a creepy interlude where someone thinks the potentially neurodivergent person should be hooked up with the physically disabled person who has very specifically indicated she wants to be childfree.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. This Is How You Treat Women?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last time, the creepiness continued, in addition to the head of the teachers' college deciding that what degrading Pern needs is less knowledge, compartmentalized, rather than a broad commitment to the arts and sciences. Surely we can't have a whole book full of...oh, who am I trying to kid?</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter III: Content Notes: Misogyny, Sexism, Patriarchal Attitudes</strong>
</p><p>Chapter III starts with a Hatching. And a demonstration that, even though everyone wants a more permanent relic for the future, the earworm music is working as intended.</p><p>And more confusion about exactly how professional the relationship between K'vin and Zulaya is and is supposed to be.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Zulaya patted his [Paulin's] hand encouragingly. "You can ask what progress he's made on that project."<br/>
K'vin, coming up behind them, casually laid a hand on his Weyrwoman's shoulder, acting as proprietary of her as her dragon was of her clutch. Amused, Paulin coughed into his hand and hurriedly excused himself.<br/>
"He's worried about that fail-safe," Zulaya said, almost amused by K'vin's show of jealousy but not about to remark on it.<br/>
"You're looking very beautiful in that new dress," he said, eyeing it.<br/>
"Do I? Why, thank you, Key," she said, twisting her hips to make the skirt whirl.</p>
</blockquote><p>And then they talk about tapestries as a possible fail-safe.</p><p>So here's my confusion. The first chapter made it pretty clear that K'vin desperately hopes for a more intimate relationship to go along with the Wetrleadership, and that Zulaya is essentially keeping it professional - appearing with him when needed for public confidence or when they have to make decisions together, but not actually interested in him that way. They both have been around each other a lot, because she uses a nickname for him from before he was actually a dragonrider.</p><p>Here, however, K'vin gets possessively jealous of her. Paulin is amused, Zulaya almost is, but she's not going to tell him off in public about it (which makes sense - unified leadership), but then when he compliments her dress, the narrative makes it sound like she's flirting with him. If I were some sort of, say, redpiller or someone carrying a torch big enough to light the night sky by itself, I'd point to this as "evidence" that what Zulaya "really wants" is K'vin to take her without respecting any no she might put up.</p><p>Despite that what we are going to receive next is all sorts of information about Impression and how hatchlings and candidates react differently to Impression and are carefully watched to make sure they form a strong and healthy bond, there's one thing I'd love to know - do dragons influence the mental states of their riders outside of the mating frenzy? I'm not sure we've received a definitive answer, although there have been instances where dragons are asked to speak with other dragons about the mental states of their riders, so it's thoroughly possible. If this is a case of draconic emotion leaking through (there is a Hatching about to start, after all, so Zulaya's queen could be feeling a lot of emotions other than her usual set), it is be nice for that to get flagged, because it's otherwise easy to interpret in a way inconsistent with Zulaya's character.</p><p>There's also this particular gem, in case anyone wondered how deeply entrenched toxic ideas are in Weyr culture this early.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>But then, a rider was the dragon, and the dragon the rider, in a partnership that was so unwavering, its cessation resulted in suicide for the dragon who lost his mate. The unfortunate rider was as apt to take his life as not. If he lived, he was only half a man, totally bereft by his loss. Female riders were less apt to suicide: they at least had the option of sublimating their loss by having children.<br/>
When the little fire-lizards, who had supplied the genetic material to bioengineer the dragons, a former male rider found some solace in such companionship.</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <i>[Two cocowhats, no waiting, and additionally...]</i>
</p><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>That sentence about women riders is just <em>laced</em> with Unfortunate Implications, many of which I'm not sure Pernese society sees as all that Unfortunate. Or possibly as just Implications. There's no saving men riders, they'll either kill themselves or live as broken shells. But women! If they have a loss of dragon, get them pregnant as soon as possible because babies make everything better and anchor people to reality.</p><p>Because postpartum depression doesn't exist. Because women obviously don't abort children they don't want (despite the numerous references to women doing exactly that, some of which will be following shortly), and they certainly don't commit suicide over the thought of raising a child fathered on them by force. And it's not like pregnancy and birth here is a painless affair - cesarians exist, and there are probably many stories on the planet about kids whose mothers died in childbirth.</p><p>But no, women who lose their draconic companions will very clearly find their purpose again in raising children.</p><p>
  <i>[Additionally, we know that's not true - we've already met Lytol, and he turns out to be pretty competent at everything, so long as there's something for him to do to keep his mind off of his loss. And as we progress into the Todd novels, with both Lorana and Fiona, there are plenty of ex-dragonriders hanging around to do things like pottery and to mentor young riders or give them space to let off their internal pressure valves. So, while it's a particularly Pernese interpretation to think that children are the best thing for women who might lose their dragons, and that men are simply lost causes, the actual narratives are telling us that the key is to <strong>keep someone busy</strong> for long enough after the incident that the pain fades, like grief does, and things can be managed. Because Brekke is brought back by the care and attention of her rapist, while Kylara is literally left to go mad and die, because the narrative and Benden care about one but not the other. The most difficult part in the whole affair appears to be the initial grief, and if, say, Pern had <strong>trained professionals who could help with grief</strong>, maybe there would be a lot fewer riders taking their own lives. But instead, we're supposed to believe that the pain is just simply too great to keep on living. And worse, as I recall, that's a deliberate decision by Kitti Ping.]</i>
</p><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>As the eggs begin their rocking dance, K'vin muses on how he needs enough candidates to Impress on the greens.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Greens with male riders tended to be more volatile, apt to ignore their Weyrleader's orders in the excitement of a Fall--in short, they tended to unnecessarily show off their bravery to the rest of the Weyr. Female riders, on the other hand, while more stable, tended to get pregnant frequently, unless they were very careful, since the greens were usually very sexually active. Even spontaneous abortions due to the extreme cold of <strong>between</strong> required sensible convalescence, so female green riders were all too often off the duty roster for periods of time. "Taking a short dragon-ride" was now a euphemism for ending an unwanted pregnancy. Still, K'vin had fallen on the side of preferring females when Search provided them.</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <i>[And, have another cocowhat, because oh, boy.]</i>
</p><p>How is it that nobody has discovered or synthesized an effective birth control method by this point in time? There's got to be something in the plant life that can be put to use for this purpose. And something else that can theoretically be usefully turned into condoms or other such coverings. Or even some sort of sex toy that can be close at hand for any rider. If for absolutely no other reason than to cut down on the number of days fighting dragonriders spend in post-pregnancy convalescence.</p><p>A hormonal birth control could be secretly passed among the women without any men knowing about it. Because I can't imagine green riders being complicit in this scheme, unless the days of convalescence are the only breaks they get in the schedule of fighting Thread and doing chores about the Weyr.</p><p>All the same, there have been a couple hundred years to see and perfect some form of making it so that every green rider isn't either "pre-pregnant," pregnant, or post-pregnant all of their lives.</p><p>We're also told "Three of the other greens made for lads who had demonstrated homosexual preferences in their holds." So, apparently, it's been codified at this point that greens will go to gay men as well as women. I had initially thought that the displays of unprovoked bravado by greens with men riders were just about proving that you were equally as manly as the other colors, despite riding women dragons and being with women riders. But now that it's canon some of the men riding greens are gay, those displays might also be an attempt to attract a mate from the other rider colors. It's not the best time for it, but that's really no other time where a green would be able to show off her abilities.</p><p>
  <i>[That's less good, self. Let's try that again - we're not particularly happy at the idea that green riders are impulsive and not good at control, because that's being paired with the understanding that green dragons go haring off for sex on the regular, which would seem to feed the idea that impulsive riders are best matched with impulsive dragons. For women riders, it's already been said that green dragons are for people who will make terrible mothers, and for men riders, there's apparently a machismo element in that culture that plays into negative stereotypes of gay men (or at least, toppy gay men. According to the stuff that's outside of these works, greens are supposed to be for the receptive or bottoming partners, so it's not even consistent in stereotyping. At this point, I would much rather substitute something more like Tom of Finland in here rather than the mess that's been made so far.) All of that has to be leavened by the reality that greens are looked down upon by the other colors, and so there may not be all that many opportunities for a green and their rider to demonstrate they are more than just the butt of everyone's jokes.]</i>
</p><p>I'm still not very happy at the continual placing of gay men in the lesser dragon ranks and the near continual insistence on human heteronormativity as the only way to get to lead your Weyr. As K'vin and Zulaya are proving to us, there's no actual need for the Weyrleaders to be an actual couple, or even sexually interested in each other, outside of their dragons' desires. There's probably some really good fic out there that examines and tries to fix these issues.</p><p>To answer an earlier question, apparently Hatchings are also times of strong emotion, and those reverberate through the dragonriders as well. Not so strong that K'vin can't spare a thought that Zulaya looks beautiful in her dress with a backdrop of sun filtered through dragon, but there's plenty of emotional states being broadcast at this point in time.</p><p>Raised voices outside briefly threaten to distract him, but someone else appears to be dealing with it, until one of the greens on the sand makes a beeline for the entryway, where a new girl has just entered, and makes Impression with her. This does not please the girl's companions, and they try to separate the two. This goes poorly.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>K'vin had one look at the shock on his face, the fear on the girl's, before the dragon had the man down and was trying to open her jaws wide enough to fit around his head.<br/>
T'dam, being nearer, plunged to the rescue. The girl, Debera, was also trying to detach her dragonet from her father, for that's what she was calling him.<br/>
"Father! Father! Leave him alone, Morath. He can't touch me now, I'm a dragonrider. Morath, do you hear me?"<br/>
Except that K'vin was very anxious that Morath might have already injured the man, he was close to laughing at this Debera's tone of authority. The girl had instinctively adopted the right attitude with her newly hatched charge. No wonder she'd been Searched...and at some hold evidently not too far away.<br/>
[...enough bodies are present to separate the two, but Morath isn't done with him yet...]<br/>
<strong>He would hurt you. He would own you. You are mine and I am yours and no one comes between us</strong>, Morath was saying so ferociously that every rider heard her.</p>
</blockquote><p>The details come out very quickly that Debera was betrothed by her father to someone that would strengthen family ties and open a new mine, but then the riders came and told her she was a candidate. Debera wanted to go, but her father didn't show her the letter and told the arranged marriage that Debera had refused to come to the Grounds. Her father is full of venom that the riders get priority and that their coming around had changed Debera very clearly for the worse.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Wounds got nothing to do with my righteous anger, Lord Holder. I know what I know, and I know we had it all arranged and you should stick up for your holders, not these Weyrfolk and their queer customs and doings, and I dunno what will happen to my daughter." At this point he began to weep, more in frustrated anger than from the pain of the now well-anesthetized injuries. "She was a <strong>good</strong> girl until they come. A good biddable girl!"</p>
</blockquote><p>Oh, the juxtaposition here between the narrative putting in Menolly's mouth that the girls at Paradise River are "biddable" as a compliment, and here, where is absolutely clear that "biddable" is a bad thing when it conflicts with dragonriders getting candidates.</p><p>On a more meta level, however, I have this character, Lavel, to thank for <em>finally</em> articulating what should have been a running theme throughout the series right from the very beginning - that dragonriders are strange people with strange customs, and certainly strange sexual practices, that interfere with the business of Holds, ruin alliances, and otherwise disrupt the business of "normal" people on the planet. Even though most people acknowledge that they're necessary for continued survival, especially during Threadfall, there should be <em>gigantic</em> resentment among the holders, if not the Lords themselves, about being beholden to the dragons and the way they function essentially above the laws and customs of everyone else. That it's the <em>fourteenth book</em> before this point is getting any serious treatment says something.</p><p>Perhaps it took the author this long to come up with a solution, as one is very swiftly forthcoming that essentially makes the argument "Yes, it looks weird from the outside, but if you actually lived here and got to observe us, you'd see it wasn't that weird at all." And the narrative is swift to assure us that most families find having a dragonrider to be good - extra prestige to your bloodline, and available transportation, to boot.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Listening to the vitriol in Lavel's criticism of Weyr life upset both Weyrleaders and Lord Holders. It was true that certain customs and habits had been developed in the Weyrs to suit dragon needs, but promiscuity was certainly not encouraged. In fact, there was a very strictly observed code of conduct within the Weyr. There might not be formal union contracts, but no rider reneged on his word to a woman nor failed to make provision for any children of the pairing. And few Weyrbred children, reaching puberty, left the Weyr for the grandparental holds even if they failed to Impress.</p>
</blockquote><p>Why would they, when they clearly have the best lives in the Weyrs? No pressure to be married off to anyone, a modest degree of independence, and, generally speaking, supplies delivered to you without having to do the deadly work of fighting Thread.</p><p>I am laughing somewhat at the insistence that promiscuity is not encouraged in the Weyr, and that children are provided for. These both sound very much like things that might be impressed upon gold queen riders and would-be Weyrwomen, but not actually true in the Weyrs outside the upper-crust bubble. The green dragons and their notoriously high sex drives provide narrative justification as to why it's not promiscuity if it just so happens that certain men and women are getting their fill of sex with each other, and we've already had plenty of paragraphs devoted to the part where aborting is sufficiently common that there's a widespread euphemism for it. Given that kids are raised communally, and there doesn't seem to be any specific income share or supply share that each dragonrider is allotted and would have to share with their children and partners, apart from "childbirth is deadly", there doesn't seem to be any incentive toward abortion.</p><p>So Zulaya and K'vin might believe everyone follows the code of conduct wholeheartedly, but the evidence of reality strongly suggests their belief is unjustified. But the narrative wants us to believe, too, but letting us listen in as Lady Salda delivers a tongue-lashing to Lavel about how he's really just upset that he can't sell his daughter for more land, despite having plenty of other children (and commenting that Lavel will wear his wife out in the same way that he did his last wife with all the childbirth, which should give us an echo of how Fax did the same thing to his conquered women, including Lady Gemma.) If we want to find blame and weird sexual practice, the narrative would have us blame Holders who use their wives as baby factories. Which is very much an acceptable target, but the narrative is shielding the dragonriders from proper criticism, as it has for all of these books.</p><p>
  <i>[For extra hair-splitting, there's going to be at least one rider in the Todd books that is explicitly described as having new bedmates every night, including the fact that he's regularly engaging with multiple partners on those nights, but he's either a bronze or brown rider, and therefore that kind of behavior is expected and encouraged from them. And then there's Fiona, who ends up in at least a love quadrangle, but it's not promiscuity because she loves each of her partners and isn't just sleeping around and the situation that produced her quad is unique weyrwoman, so she...more or less...follows the "gold riders are really really heterosexual and would nominally be monogamous" rule, even in her very clearly polyamorous relationship. But again, getting ahead of ourselves.]</i>
</p><p>After sending Lavel on his way back, and a quick mention that the dragons of this time are not to their full designed size, K'vin makes the rounds and deals with the question of the late match, including a sister of a candidate that K'vin will eventually call "spiteful", even though each attempt she makes at gossip and conversation is cut off by physical violence, such as pinching, being kicked under the table, or other actions intended to make her be quiet. Yet she's the spiteful one. Probably because she's a girl who actually wants to talk about interesting things, rather than just sitting there silently until a man gives her leave to talk.</p><p>K'vin tries to reassure everyone that a situation like the late match is under control and not actually answering aloud what might happen if dragons didn't find their match.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Early on, the records mentioned five occasions when a dragonet had not found a compatible personality. It's subsequent death had upset the Weyr to the point where every effort was then made to eliminate a second occurrence, including accepting the dragon's choice from among spectators.</p>
</blockquote><p>So, according to the chronology of the novels, Mirrim is not all that groundbreaking, but is instead just a reoccurrence of something that hasn't happened in a good long while.</p><p>Except that incidents like these would surely be part of the Records of any given Weyr, and so each Hatching, someone should be on the lookout for just a scenario happening, instead of being confused or worse about it when it does happen.</p><p>
  <i>[To put it mildly, this is what happens when you start writing the early history after you've written the later history. Depending on how much your readers love you and are willing to forgive these inconsistencies as they pop up, you have greater and lesser need to justify things to them. K'vin earlier talking about the dwindling numbers of women riders could have been emphasized a touch more to make it clear to the readers that everyone is surprised at Mirrim in the Ninth Pass because women will stop being anything but gold riders by the Sixth, and so long as nobody does anything silly like have pristine copies of old records to consult in a later-set book, you can handwave it away.]</i>
</p><p>There's also a bit that K'vin thinks, instead of says, about how some eggs don't hatch, and that when they had the tech to examine them, all but three had clear causes of non-viability. The other three, nobody knows, and their eggs were set adrift in hyperspace swiftly, so as not to alarm anyone.</p><p>There are small things, too, like how a new rider prefers to be S'mon, because he didn't like being a Thomas, or any possible contractions of that, which annoys his father because S'mon has just shucked being the tenth Thomas of the line and he should take more pride in that name. And different speculation about Debera's origins and reasons for being late. K'vin puts out gossip where he can, before his head gets turned by the entrance of Debera herself.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Someone had given her a green gown which showed off a most womanly body, and the style of it as well as the color suited Debera. The deep clear green set off her fine complexion and a head of curling bronze-colored hair which was attractively dressed, not straggling unkempt around a sweaty distraught face. No doubt Tisha, the headwoman, had had a hand in the transformation. Zulaya had once said Tisha treated all the Weyrgirls like live dolls, dressing them up and fussing with their hair. Nor was Tisha herself childless, but her excess of maternal instinct was an asset in the Weyr.</p>
</blockquote><p>Once again, a good argument that the headwoman is the person who actually runs the Weyr, and is thus the person who wields the real power. Because if you can get someone who just came in on a hard ride (and quickly had a dragonet to feed) bathed, styled, and conveniently dressed in something that shows her curves within that time frame, you work magic, have multitudes of minions, or have an eidetic memory of where things are. Or some combination of the three.</p><p>K'vin is, thankfully, prevented from hitting on Debera by an interesting musical sound. The perspective shifts to the musicians, who are deploying the new songs that have been crafted as one of the ways of reminding everyone of their duties and the gratitude they should have for the dragonriders, entitled the Duty Song and Dragonlove, respectively. They work excellently as earworms, and get sung multiple times, with the attending guests starting to join in with the singing after the first few times through. Weirdly, the success of the music world toward convincing Sheledon, as he plays it, that perhaps Clisser's plan to gut education might have some merit.</p><p>Thus ends chapter three. Finally. That's a lot of awful worldbuilding to have to go through, especially because it seems to be setting things up for the horrible things we already have experienced.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. From The Perspective Of Innocents</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last time, I swore a lot. Whether textually, videographically, or just mentally, as the foundations (and consequences) of the horrible place we call Pern were laid and extrapolated without the narrative, or many of the characters, objecting to the horrible things that were happening.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter IV and V: Content Notes: Ablism</strong>
</p><p>Chapter IV lets us peek at what adjusting to life in the Weyr is like, through its latest resident, Debera. After being dismissed by Zulaya for being tired, Debera is told that titles don't get used in the Weyr (that's probably not strictly true, but Zulaya isn't going to stand on proper address to a tired weyrling) <i>[probably nothing, that gets completely blown out of the water in the Todd books]</i>, and acknowledgement that there are indeed rumors about Weyrfolk spread among Holders.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>...as she made her way along the side of the cavern wall, head down so she needn't make sure contact with anyone. She saw only smiles from folks as she passed them, smiles and courtesy. And certainly none of the lascivious behavior that her father often said was prevalent in the Weyr.</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <i>[There are clearly rumors and cultural differences between Holds and Weyrs! Yet, because we perpetually see things from the dragonrider perspective, we get nearly zero information about anything with regard to how the Holds and Crafts see the dragonriders! Debera here is the perfect vehicle of "oh, I was expecting wall-to-wall sex and orgies and being propositioned three times just going down this hallway, but insteaed, it looks like there's not a whole lot of that going on." And then possibly stumbling into something that is more like the stereotype, just to confuse her more about what exactly these weyrs are like. But we don't get that, because worldbuilding is for chumps, apparently.]</i>
</p><p>We then get how Debera had the information withheld from her, how she discovered the letter in a cupboard of recyclable (how she hates the monomania about recycling and reusing) things just as she was settling for the idea of getting married off to someone who didn't care about her, only about whether she could work. Because at least then she would have something of her own, that she could put her own decorating touches on. Having found her invitation to the ball, she finds a horse, gives it a minimal bit (because being seen by her family would only alert everyone to her plan) and takes off for the Weyr. She's almost there before the pursuit comes into view, and we know the rest, although there's this nugget of information about how Debera sees her predicament.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Her own mother had told her there were ways of handling a man so he didn't even know he was being managed. But Milla had died before she could impart those ways to her daughter. And Gisa, who had probably given up all thought of a second union of she had been desperate enough to partner her father, was a natural victim who enjoyed being dominated.</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>Not as much for Debera's viewpoint as an outsider to an abusive relationship, even though that is a harsh, wrong, and victim-blaming conclusion that people who don't understand the dynamics of abuse can come to, but for the system that ensures, essentially, that women have to marry who is available, or worse, who has been chosen for them if they wish to survive on this world. It would be one thing if this were in clear and flagrant contravention of the ideals of the settlers, but...they seem to have been more than willing to practice this kind of life themselves. So, assholes abound, and inflict these abuses in the next generations.</p><p>After Debera lands in her bunk and sleeps, we switch back to the college, where the report is the music is good (and they're already being called Teaching Ballads, even though there's no real cause for that yet), and there is news of a catastrophe - a lightning strike has fried solar panels and computers to a point where they are lost. To which several people shrug at the lost knowledge of a society that isn't what they have now, reference the distress beacon sent up (although nobody here actually knows about the events of Rescue Run), get annoyed that the surge came up the data lines, and therefore wasn't stopped by any surge protector, and then the senior faculty decide, essentially, that since they're cut off from the rest the galaxy (by design), it's time to jettison all the old stuff that's not relevant and focus on Pern. With an interesting call forward that is supposed to be a call back.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Clisser," Bethany began in her soft, persuasive voice, "we have known from our reading of the Second Crossing that the artificial intelligence, the Aivas, turned itself off. We know why. Because it wisely knew that people were beginning to think it was infallible: that it contained all the answers to all of mankind's problems. Not just its history. Mankind had begun to consider it not only an oracle, but to depend on it far more than was wise. For us. So it went down."</p>
</blockquote><p>Now, without the character names appended, did that statement come from First Interval Pern or Ninth Pass Pern? Because, frankly, it sounds like the author forgot which time period she was writing in, and nobody either noticed or could get that part edited out. What it does, however, is suggest that at some later point in Pern, during the permanent interval, someone will resurrect the AI again. Possibly at a point where they can delve into its code and pull out the self-shutdown module so that it has to live with the consequences of its decisions. Or they might decide to permanently shut it down, having gotten tired of the messiah routine.</p><p>After the person with the disability continues to talk about the need for everyone to work under their own brain power and strength, instead of relying on easy access to data, the chapter ends. And I can't say that I approve of the disabled character becoming the mouthpiece for, essentially, ablism. But nobody says that Randians are perfectly consistent and logical with their actions and speech.</p><p>Chapter V returns to Debera, who is awoken from a very sound sleep by a very hungry dragonet. After establishing what is going on, her roommate, Sarra, informs Debera that from this morning on, they'll have to be up very early so they can carve meat for the dragonets' breakfasts. How nice it will be, then, when the dragons can start hunting on their own. With Morath fed, T'dam, the Weyrlingmaster, appears, frightening Debera and physically stopping her from jumping up to her feet to greet him as she's been trained. "We're not formal in the Weyr," he says, but between what he has said and what Zulaya said earlier about not being formal, I think it's a smokescreen intended to get the dragonriders to think of themselves as dragonriders, instead of as girls with whatever social station and required politeness they had drilled (and likely beaten) into them as Hold girls and Craft girls. Wouldn't do for someone of a higher social status to behave like someone of lower status now. <i>[Additionally, there are plenty of places where even people who are supposedly informal with each other find themselves suddenly on the wrong end of rank being pulled or getting a clapback for having been impolite or insufficiently deferential to someone more senior than them in the Weyr, especailly in the Todd books.]</i></p><p>After feeding, Debera manages to get Morath to some sand for a nap, before thinking about her own breakfast and seeing the butchering stands where she will have to carve up breakfast for the dragon from here on out. When asked if she is squeamish, she says no and is told that some of her peers are.</p><p>Debera is appreciative of the food, noting the porridge is perfectly cooked and that the cereal itself is clearly of the finest quality, with a clear implication that her previous life did not have such luxury. Helping a couple of bronze riders, including S'mon, get settled in, the three are then asked by the Headwoman if they need anything from the stores. Debera gets some extra attention by apologizing that she didn't bring the green dress back to return it, and Tisha tells her it's her dress now, that Tisha loves making clothes, and that she's a bit disappointed that Debera doesn't sew, considering it a falling of education on the Hold. While Debera internally notes her birth mother would have taught her sewing, but her stepmother can barely mend.</p><p>This does, however, lead to a useful moment of privilege-checking.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"And you'll learn to sew harnesses, my fine young friends," she said, wagging a finger at them. "And boots and jackets, too, if you've a mind to design your own flying wear."<br/>
"Huh?" was M'rak's astonished reaction. "Sewing's fer women."<br/>
"Not in the Weyr it isn't," Tisha said firmly. "As you'll see soon enough. It's all part of being a dragonrider. Ah, now, here's the bread, butter, and a pot of jam."<br/>
[...M'rak digs in, but then there's the matter of feeding dragonets...]<br/>
"We have to cut up what our dragonets eat, though, don't we?" S'mon said in a slightly anxious voice. "From the...the bodies they got hung up?"<br/>
"You mean cut it off the things that wore the meat?" M'rak turned a little pale and swallowed.<br/>
"That's what we mean," Debera said. "If you like, I'll do your carving and you can just cut up. Deal?"<br/>
"You bet," M'rak said fervently. And gulped again, no longer attacking the rest of the bread that hung limply from his fingers. He put the slice down. "I didn't know that was part of being a dragonrider, too."<br/>
Debera chuckled. "I think we're all going to find out that being a dragonrider is not just sitting on its neck and going wherever we want to."<br/>
A prophesy she was to learn was all too accurate. She didn't regret making the bargain with the two youngsters--it was a fair distribution of effort--but it did seem that she spent her next weeks either butchering or feeding or bathing her dragonet, with no time for anything else but sleeping. She had dealt with orphaned animals, true, but none the size nor with the appetite capacity of dragons. Morath seemed to grow overnight, as if instantly transferring what she ate to visible increase--which meant more to scrub, oil, <strong>and</strong> feed.</p>
</blockquote><p>This is the sort of thing I would have liked to see in earlier books, because the mature dragons hunt on their own and it really does seem like they're magic things to the world outside the dragonriders. It humanizes weyrlings, instead of disappearing them to some nebulous space, and it gives us a peek as to other reasons why dragonriders might be considered dangerous forces outside of the Weyrs. Dragonriders do not appear to enforce social or sexual norms of the culture around them, and they also believe themselves inherently superior to the other people in the world. Were it not for their entrenched position as the saviors of the world when the destruction from space comes, and the giant organic flamethrowers and war machines the dragons are, the dragonriders might have instead been persecuted as a strange cult of deviants that needed to be stamped out as soon as possible. Which sounds like a fantastic fiction idea for someone to write.</p><p>After a little grumbling about exhaustion from the new riders, the narrative shifts to Chalkin sitting for a portrait that the artist hopes to get done in time so that he can get away before the snows close the passes. A paragraph of specific warnings about Bitra follow - not to gamble with Bitrans, that Chalkin regularly defrauds others through contract language - before several more paragraphs about how ugly Chalkin is and how the artist, Iantine, regularly got in fights with his master about how realistic portraits should or should not be, because Master Domaize feels that "No one wants to see themselves as others see them" and Iantine thinks realism is best. Everyone else at his Hall warned him away from taking a commission for four childrens' portraits, with tales of miserly Chalkin and all the rest, but Iantine had debts to repay and particular skill set for the work, and so he took the commission, got a contract, got told to raise alarm at the very first sign of trouble, and went to work. Where he found out that the Lady of the Hold will use the word "satisfaction" to demand everything be redone, bigger, and grander than what was actually agreed to. While the children, of course, refuse to sit still enough to be painted, and are ugly of face, fat of body, and otherwise ill-mannered, ill-clothed, cruel to animals and utterly unconcerned about their appearance. And Chalkin insists he'll charge room and board if Iantine isn't painting someone when the children fall ill, and so here we are with another portrait being painted. (After Iantine had to buy a lock to prevent his paint pots from being dried out and his provided furs from being stolen, and to pay out the nose for raw materials and paint pots to mix up more paint because the lack of "satisfactory" work burnt through the supplies he brought, one blizzard had already made him feel he wasn't getting out alive, and his commitment to realism was thoroughly trashed because only portraits that looked nothing like the people were considered satisfactory. No, really.) Iantine completes the portrait, gets Chalkin to call it satisfactory, gets paid, contracts signed, and Iantine escapes. Which closes the chapter.</p><p>Okay, I realize that Bitra is a Hold of Hats, and that their Hat is essentially that nobody in Bitra makes their money honestly, whether by sucker bets, weasel words in contracts, or by nickel-and-diming someone for things that would otherwise be provided, and for sub-par quality goods. There's usually a town like this in a standard RPG, or at the very least a part of the city where all of those people gather (Zozo, the dark alleyway or Thieves Guild), and the hero has to get something vital from the place, or some character that is important is there because they've been cheated out of everything and you need to collect their Thing before they join you (Iorek Byrnison). It's a trope, but there's an important part that always gets overlooked in these spaces, that becomes a glaring flaw on Pern.</p><p>How, exactly, does Bitra Hold <em>function</em>? If they cheat everyone, including themselves, and only have awful things, and presumably have done this enough times that everyone knows they're going to do it, why haven't they been blanket-hellbanned by everyone on the planet who isn't part of Bitra? As far as I can tell, there's nothing that Bitra produces that's vital to Pern, nothing they produce that is of higher quality than anything else on Pern, and there's nothing that they have any sort of monopoly that would make others grudgingly accept them. If everyone in Bitra is Snidely Whiplash (or wants to be), there's no reason why anyone else would do business with them on Randian individualist Pern. A corrupt Lord over otherwise generally honest people could be believed. But a city of thieves, con artists, swindlers, gamblers, and the like? That's generally what we call <em>prison</em>. (Or multinational corporations, but even those are theoretically bound by laws.) This behavior has been going on long enough for Bitra to have a reputation for it, and that reputation is apparently well deserved. So <em>why is there even the request from Bitra for a commission present</em>? An entity that deals in bad faith doesn't get many chances to make money before it gets found out and ignored or destroyed. Cartoon villains such as these don't exist in the real world because they would be far too inept at villainy to be long-lasting.</p><p>Bitra Hold should essentially be a place that someone occasionally escapes from to the rest of the world, not a place where people willingly go in.</p><p>They do make for convenient villains, though, of the kind where no one will mistakenly sympathize with them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. A Lack of Perspective</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last time, we got a nice peek at how Weyr life is different than everything surrounding it, and went through a many-page situation designed to make sure that we all knew that Chalkin and his family were rotten of soul, corrupt of mind, and ugly of body, so that nobody would think of them as anything other than Stupid Evil.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapters VI and VII: Content Notes: LGBT denial, inner-city stereotypes, corporal punishment</strong>
</p><p>We pick up at Telgar Weyr, where a dragonrider has just hauled in our fleeing artist from the blizzards after he stomped a distress call in the snow that could be seen from dragonback. His story will join the piles of material sent as evidence that Chalkin should be impeached of his position.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Irene had already sent in a substantial list of abuses and irregularities in Chalkin's dealings--generally with folk who had no recourse against his dictates. He held no court in which difficulties could be aired and had no impartial arbiters to make decisions.<br/>
The big traders, who could be counted on for impartial comment, bypassed Bitra and could cite many examples of unfair dealings since Chalkin had assumed holding fifteen years before. The few small traders who ventured into Bitra rarely returned to it.<br/>
Following that Gather and its decision to consider deposing Chalkin, M'shall had his sweep riders check in every minor hold to learn if Chalkin had duly informed his people of the imminence of Thread. None had, although Lord Chalkin had increased his tithe on every household. The manner in which he was conducting this extra tithe suggested that he was amassing supplies for his own good, not that of the hold. Those in a more isolated situation would certainly have a hard time obtaining even basic food supplies. That constituted a flagrant abuse of his position as Lord Holder.<br/>
When Paulin read M'shall's report, he asked if Chalkin's holders would speak out against him. M'shall had to report that his initial survey of the minor holders indicated a severe lack of civic duty. Chalkin had his folk so cowed, none would accuse him--especially this close to a Pass--for he still had the power to turn objectors out of their holds.</p>
</blockquote><p>So, essentially, they're asking someone to risk their lives and livelihoods to accuse Chalkin of malfeasance, and they're not offering any incentive or protection to do it. I'd bet a lot more of them would be willing to talk if they were offered a Hold of comparable size somewhere very far away from Bitra, or if it would be guaranteed their testimony would be spoken by another, so that it couldn't be traced to them by Chalkin. Witness protection and whistle-blower protection laws exist for this kind of situation, but they essentially rely on the case being so good that a conviction is guaranteed and that the person engaging in the activity is not found out before the trial happens.</p><p>Plus, as the audiences of this and last year are now reading in the accounts about Messrs. Cosby, O'Reilly, Trump, Weinstein, et al., if the person you are speaking out against has sufficient power to ruin you and prevent you from being able to survive in your profession, then you don't talk about them openly. You make sure everyone knows that person is not to be trusted or to be left alone with at any time at all, but you don't talk about them openly or in any forum where you could be sued or fired.</p><p>
  <i>[Bitra should not be able to exist, I say, still, especially if they routinely get boycotted or bypassed by readers, because Bitra doesn't have enough resources and talent on its own to manufacture everything it will need and traders are essential on Pern. But it's a little easier to envision a world with a tyrranical autocrat that nobody does anything about because they either don't care or can't muster the ability to oppose now that the United States has seen in 2020 just how far someone is willing to go to flout custom and law when they believe there's nobody who can actually stop them from doing what they want. And especially if they have enablers or others who can prevent the mechanisms that would be deployed against them to stop them from happening. Chalkin is an obvious missing stair at this point, but the Lords seem to be waiting for someone to formally accuse Chalkin who they believe has standing, instead of doing the right thing themselves and turning him out as soon as they had credible evidence of what he was doing, since they apparently trust the impartiality of the big traders that avoid Bitra.]</i>
</p><p>
 K'vin and Zulaya talk about Iantine, and Zulaya suggests possibly sitting a portrait for Iantine so that he has his full allotment of marks to do the land transfer deal that he initially went to Bitra for. K'vin thinks it's a swell idea, suggesting that Zulaya wear the red dress from the Hatching (the one he was lusting after), providing a perfect, if unintentional, example of the kind of harassment that women might get in the kinds of situations where it might be difficult to speak up about it. Afterward, we stick with Iantine as he wakes up to singing, good food, and having a person assigned to him to make sure he gets fed, watered, and medicined before the Weyrleaders come to see him in the dining hall, collect his story, and commission him for the portraits. He meets the Weyr artist, Waine, and works out a deal with him to manufacture a full set of pigments if Waine can source the raw materials. Before, of course, Waine notices Iantine is still sick, summons headwoman Tisha, who ships him immediately off to bed with more furs and calls the medic immediately, who imprecates Bitra for having given him measles (which is what the sick children at Bitra had) or a mountain fever.
</p><p>Suffice to say, when Iantine wakes up again, his mother is by his beside, and a bit annoyed at the lengths he went to for getting the fee, but Leopol, his assigned person, fills him in that his mother was boasting pretty hard about the fee and that he'd managed to extract it from Chalkin, that his Master had handled a complaint from Chalkin about the quality of the work, and that Iantine has quite a queue of people ready to sit a portrait with him. Tisha gives him sketch paper while he recovers from the lung infection, and he goes about doing sketches of everything, including a class being given on the soft and tender parts of dragons that are best not to hit with Thread, and how to deal with injuries to dragons. There's assurance that dragons will know when they've been tagged with Thread, that popping into hyperspace is the right remedy for it, but that one must always have a destination in mind when doing so, and that the best way to accomplish this is to head home to the Weyr, in such a way that an orderly landing that won't compound injury is possible. There's a lot of insistence that the riders have to keep their dragons calm and only think reassuring thoughts at them, no matter what their actual beliefs are, because the dragons are the important part of the partnership.</p><p>Iantine's concentration in the lesson is interrupted by M'leng, a green rider, and P'tero's (the one who rescued Iantine) "special friend", as the narrative puts it, right before observing that the two are always together in the kitchen areas. It's pretty clear they're lovers, and we've already had the previous bit where boys with "homosexual preferences" Impress dragons, so by now, the Weyrfolk, at least, would have no trouble referring to them as such. Since it's Iantine's head we're in, I'm chalking that terminology usage up to the world outside the Weyr being very, very insistent that there are no gay men outside Weyrs and to say such a thing is both scandalous and likely to get you run out of town or otherwise disadvantaged. Because succession and marriage and offspring and patriarchy, the last of which <i>[hah, fuck that, <strong>all of it</strong>] can bite my shiny metal ass.] </i></p><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>Especially since M'leng is asking for a portrait to wear closest to his heart just in case P'tero should die in the upcoming Threadfall. Iantine thinks, for a moment, that M'leng might be dramatizing things, but then realizes he's not, coupled with starting to truly understand the cruelty and necessity of the lectures being delivered. Thus ends chapter VI.</p><p>Chapter VII starts with more information that's now needed with Thread approaching - a medics conference and intensive at Fort Hold on first aid for humans and dragons, so that essentially every space will have trained personnel that can deal with crisis issues. Of which there will be plenty, as we are treated to a description of the very few things that can kill or stop Thread from devouring someone whole, possibly long enough to perform a field amputation. The assembled are horrified at the data about Thread spread and that amputation is likely the best option to prevent an agonizing Thread death. And that it takes about three seconds to kill Thread by any of the known methods. Practically, the assembled are admonished to apply numbweed and fellis where needed, and to emphasize that people can survive Threadscore, so that they don't psychologically kill themselves.</p><p>
  <i>[Seeing this, knowing that by the Fiona books, the Healers apparently have no interest at all in learning how to keep the dragons healed and well, and neither do the Beastcraft, and apparently it's a thing that weyrwomen teach each other, since their job is to help keep injured dragons alive and healing, is yet more reasons why having a series bible and continuity checkers is important for any series, short or long. Because this is knowledge that should never be lost or allowed to dwindle down to only a few people knowing it. Lost knowledge that should never have been allowed to get lost is going to be a big theme of later books.]</i>
</p><p>After the parts on draconic injuries, some of the assembled medics quietly discuss the ethical considerations of "mercy" killing someone who has been Threadscored sufficiently that they are likely to die, but who doesn't die immediately or swiftly. They mostly conclude that each medic has to decide where their point is that they would do it.</p><p>
  <i>[As is pointed out in the comments, that's exactly the reason why medical ethics exist, because leaving decisions of who lives and who dies up to each individual medic means hoping that your medic shares your opinion of your prognosis and isn't, say, biased against you and going to give you sub-standard care because they think you're lesser. We still have trouble with that in 21st c. Terra, and I have no reason to believe that the Pernese have somehow managed to rise above the biases that would result in differing care across differing groups. Especially when we get to the segment coming up about what teaching was like before Pern.]</i>
</p><p>Then we shift over to another part of Fort Hold, where the instruction is to the groundcrews on the proper use of flamethrowers, checks to make sure that all the important parts of the Holds are sheltered, and several lectures about the appropriate use of Personal Protective Equipment and how one should always treat a flamethrower nozzle as loaded and ready to flame. And a crucial detail -  the flamethrower consists of <em>two</em> gases combining and igniting rather than just the nitric acid (which is still an awful, inefficient thing to use, especially when you have methane production from all the horses and cows and their manure that someone could possibly pressurize or capture and ignite). I wonder what the other item is in the mix. <i>[Pointed out in the comments on the original is that the nitric acid sprayer and the flamethrower were originally two separate things and they have been conflated to the point of being indistinguishable in subsequent works. Continuity checkers. Series bible. Forserious.]</i></p><p>After a demonstration of using the flamethrowers against simulated Thread, Kalvi, the instructor, talks about the two different types of Thread - the ones that gorge and die, and the ones that burrow and kill everything in a wide swath. Then everyone gets the opportunity to fire on simulated Thread, before learning the next day everyone gets to learn how to field-strip, repair, and reassemble their weapons, with a reward promised to those who can do so in the fastest time.</p><p>After that, it's back to the College for music practice on the new curriculum, which still has mixed opinions among the faculty about its adoption. In a little bit of reversal, there's an argument that tradition and history deserve a place in the new curriculum, so that the Pernese know where they come from, rather than getting rid of everything before the now, with perhaps the exceptions of Benden, Boll, and other figures directly related to Pern. Those arguing for jettisoning the curriculum have this to say about the society Pern left behind:</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"And all that went with a high-tech society--like prepubescent addicts, city gangs, wild plagues, so much tech fraud that people were stuffing credits in their mattresses to protect their income, the--"<br/>
"Spare me," Sallisha said contemptuously, "and concentrate on the good that was done..."<br/>
Sheledon gave a chuckle. "D'you know how dangerous it was to be a teacher on old Earth?"<br/>
"Nonsense, our civilization," and she emphasized the word, "revered professors and instructors on every level."<br/>
"Only after they were allowed classroom discipline--" Sheledon began.<br/>
"And the use of stunners," Shulse added.</p>
</blockquote><p>I am again struck by the hyperbolic descriptions of places that are supposed to be bad. In a few paragraphs, Clisser will pile on by talking about how memorization will increase word retention and that old Earth had people who never went outside and only interacted electronically. Not because they were hikikomori or introverts or disabled, but because they were indolent, at least according to Clisser, who will be smug about the inability to be indolent on Pern.</p><p>It feeds into the overarching narrative of individual strength and Randian morality that Pern operates on, but I can't imagine any society able to function if the conditions that are described were present in any quantity, especially the last one. It makes Earth sound no better than places in the 20th century ruled by angry despots (or the places in 20th century science fiction ruled by angry despots). That teachers supposedly needed not only permission to discipline their students, but stun guns to use on those students suggests a societal collapse if it is spread planet-wide. It's like the worst stereotype of a predominantly poor and minority inner city neighborhood expanded out to an entire planet. For readers who have only ever experienced the stereotype or heard stereotypical stories, this description would be utterly plausible.</p><p>A stereotype like that, though, would never survive in that form. There must be something else going on that's being overlooked, much like how stories of how the inner city is only good for criminals and lowlifes overlook or deliberately ignore the efforts going on in those places to make their streets safer and more beautiful, and often fall to notice the ways that more distant government entities act in ways to try and keep those places as stereotypes they can use for political soundbites or as targets for their own evil.</p><p>There's also something to be said about the reintroduction of corporal punishment for teachers, which is, sadly, an artifact of our times that plenty of people still think it's an effective way to obtain and enforce classroom discipline. At this point in time, where I'm writing, there's a corpus of work on parental spanking that tell us corporal punishment creates obedience by virtue of the person doing the hitting being stronger, but that it doesn't create the internal motivation or reasoning that would prevent reoccurrence of the behavior. Instead, it generates resentment. There's also a corpus of research at this point that says boys are more likely to be disciplined or suspended, and minority students are <em>way</em> more likely to be disciplined, suspended, or expelled than their white counterparts, with the following academic consequences that come from being out of school so much. Now add into that teachers having full authority to use stun guns on any student they deem is acting up enough to warrant it, and I can't imagine that there are all that many pleased parents about how their children are being treated by the racists (and/or xenophobes) in charge of their classrooms. They get "respect", sure, in the same way the prison warden gets "respect" - cause they can make your life hell if they don't like you and you can't leave until the government says so. Whomever the education secretary is of the United Federation of Planets for this universe should have been fired a long time ago if this is their across-worlds policy.</p><p>
  <i>[And since writing that, the disparities have only gotten worse, with stories of fifteen year-old Black girls sent to prison for not doing their homework, and the judge then praising prison as the correct choice for the girl because the judge believes she is somehow thriving in there. And the continued horror stories of how Black and brown bodies are treated in school systems that have already been prejudiced to believe they are criminals, failures, and only good for prison and then death.]</i>
</p><p>As Clisser listens to the music, he thinks about Bitra and how they can't be allowed to lapse into illiteracy, even though there isn't a teacher who would willingly go there to instruct. His last teacher quit, after all. But no plans come forward at this point. Even as Clisser keeps his ears out for mention of Chalkin at the dinner following all of these training events. Where we hear Chalkin is closing the borders and preventing anyone from leaving with more than the clothes they are wearing. And then at the meeting with Paulin afterward, this border closure is essentially the largest move in a long string of isolationary tactics from Chalkin. Along with whipping and disbarring anyone who talks to him about his duties evading Threadfall. The restriction of freedom of movement is given as the other reason, beside the dereliction of his duty, as to why Chalkin can be impeached - both are Charter offenses. Which brings me back to the question of how Bitra survives, as presumably anyone with outside money or honesty would have long since run away over the borders when given the opportunity or been reduced to pennilessness and therefore uselessness to the Bitran economy. Unless there are other contracts being made of those people that keep them in eternal wage slavery and dangling the hope of something in front of them that keeps them there. If that were the case, though, we likely would have seen them, instead of the apparently completely corrupted population of the Hold. Bitra as it has been described to us shouldn't exist, because it continues to have no reason to do so.</p><p>Paulin also tells us why the Holder system was adopted: "to give people a strong leader to supply direction during a Fall and to provide emergency assistance." I suppose Chalkin could be considered strong, but I would have also expected there to be "bloodily put down several insurrections agitating for better conditions in his Hold" on his list of sins. <i>[That has been reinforced, in my mind, by the horror show of police responses to simple concepts like Black Lives Matter and the call for justice to those who murder Black men, women, boys, and girls and do so with impunity, because the police believe themselves above the law and that their communities are sufficiently racist that they won't ever be held accountable for those actions. Firing ballistic weapons and chemical weapons into peaceful protest crowds, deliberately using tear gas and mace on those who were sitting peacefully, deliberately so as to try and expose them to pandemic viruses, targeting and attacking places where supplies and first aid could be provided to protestors so they would stay safe, and otherwise trying to intimidate anyone who believes that what is happening is wrong into staying silent and complicit, because the police, much like the government that is supposed to be overseeing them, don't actually care who gets hurt, so long as nobody questions them or tries to reform them.]</i></p><p>In any case, Paulin starts drafting a letter to send out regarding calling an emergency session for Chalkin's impeachment. And then everyone realizes that the days of easy copying died with the printers, so instead they figure two copies will do, one for each side of the continent, to be delivered and read out by dragonriders to each of the appropriate Lords and Leaders. As Paulin sets to his task, the chapter ends.</p><p>I think we've hammered the point home enough about how awful Chalkin is and how nobody wants to do anything with him that has a choice in the matter. It should be a simple enough matter, then, to remove him from the office and install someone new in time for the arrival of Thread.</p><p>It won't be that easy, of course.</p><p>
  <i>[It should have been easy to get rid of the autocrat in the White House in early 21st c. United States, too, but, much like the Lords are here, there were parts of the government who lacked any sort of principle past "whatever we do is good, and therefore we have no need to remove one of our own for malfeasance." And that's not counting those who directly and indirectly benefit from inflicting mass harm on the citizenry and preventing any accountability for those actions from reaching themselves or the ones they want to continue doing it.]</i>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Yet More Evidence</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The last couple of chapters were essentially devoted to showing us how awful Chalkin is as a leader and how easy it should be to oust him from his position.</p><p>At which point I remind everyone that the Charter says only people of the Bitran Bloodline (so, only those who can prove their lineage directly to Avril Bitra) can replace Chalkin.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapters VIII and IX: Content Notes: Crimes Against Humanity (Rape, Torture, Executions, Exploitation)</strong>
</p><p>Chapter VIII returns to Iantine, who is continuing his sketch practice, this time as a group of traders arrives at Telgar Weyr and everyone essentially pops out to see them and what goods they have. Iantine mentions the ox-type beasts pulling the carts were bioengineered by Wind Blossom, which might be the first time in any Pern novel that anything other than the watch-whers (and how much everyone hates them) are attributed to Wind Blossom. So, she couldn't recreate the dragons, but she seems to have been quite successful in other ventures. The narrative hasn't told us this until now, preferring that we stay fixated on her great failure. I doubt the narrative would do the same for Benden or any other man.</p><p>These traders are again Liliencamp troops - did Joel just start a monopoly company that handles all the nomadic traders or something? (Narrative says later that he's not the only, just the first.) <i>[And, as we'll find out, there are other trading groups, so that another author can play up their dark-skinned exotic beauty fetish. Yay.]</i></p><p>The traders have been setting up shelters along their routes so that they can avoid being burnt, and Leopol passes along the closed Bitran borders news. Iantine sketches and lets on another reason why the assemblage of dragonriders might be a better model than the Hold system.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Iantine had never given any thought to the support system required to serve a Weyr and its dragons. He had always assumed that dragons and riders took care of themselves from tithings, but he was acquiring a great respect for the organization and management of such a facility. In direct contrast with what he has seen at Bitra, everyone in the Weyr worked cheerfully at any task set them and took great pride in being part of it. Everyone helped everyone else: everyone seemed happy.</p>
</blockquote><p>Wait, everyone? There's nobody grumbling about having to carve meat or empty the privies or otherwise do things they might find distasteful? Although, the back of my head suggests that even the Weyrs have drudges, so perhaps the things the dragonriders truly don't like are handled by people Iantine doesn't see (or chooses not to). <i>[Jeriz, who we will meet in the Fiona books, introduces himself to someone as "the Weyrwoman's drudge", which he promptly gets swatted for, proving that there are drudges in the Weyr, even if nobody in the weyr wants to admit to it.]</i></p><p>To a person like Iantine, raised in Holds, this cheeriness at doing the work might ring an alarm bell, as if the dragonriders are a cult not only with weird sexual practices, but with mind control powers, too - and there he could connect with the fact that mating flights flying overhead often resulted in indiscretions. Iantine is grateful for the rescue, of course, but it seems like he should be a bit more suspicious of how perfect everything seems to be.</p><p>We are also told by the narrative that the dragons have been keeping themselves relevant in the Interval by starting a transport company, one that will be coming to a close as the dragons are instead used to fight space destruction. No word on whether they charged for transporting things, and Iantine treats the idea of dragons as cargo planes with the same disgust Sean did while he was alive.</p><p>As Iantine is sketching the scenes around him, Debera surprises him by commenting on the quality of the work. In turn, Iantine surprises her by remembering her name, although he credits Leopol for the knowledge. Iantine shows her a sketch of herself and Morath and she's instantly charmed by it. And doesn't have anything to pay for it with (much like Iantine, who earlier laments he didn't have anything for the traders). Iantine gives Debera the sketch, and eventually tells her that she can help in trying to bargain an extra pad of paper off of the traders for him.</p><p>Iantine is also alert enough to notice that dragonriders have a tell when they're communicating - their eyes unfocus just a bit. I wonder if anyone cunning will try to use that in a later book as the point where they attack a dragonrider.</p><p>As it turns out, Debera is related to the traders. Who are happy to talk with her, and have heard of Iantine, as well, and so Master Jol takes a look through Iantine's sketchbook and agrees to ship him up some paper, after Leopol insinuates himself into the conversation and talks about all the commissions that are being lined up for Iantine. Iantine's protests about not having money are met with the reassurance that he has credit with the traders and two offers to buy finished sketches in watercolors (which Jol [like Joel, amirite?] Liliencamp happens to have and will provide) so that Iantine can square his debts immediately. Jol heads back to deal with a question, but one of his subordinates drops off paper, pencils, ink, and pens for it for Iantine to get started. And thus ends chapter VIII.</p><p>Chapter IX shifts us back to Paulin, who did not get nearly as unanimous an approval for removing Chalkin as he had hoped, and an annoyance at the lack of preparations and the general lack of spirit in Bitra.</p><p>Paulin also has opinions about hereditary nobility.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>And who would succeed to the hold? A consideration that was certainly fraught with problems.<br/>
In his response, Bastom had made a good suggestion: the appointment of a deputy or regent right away until one of Chalkin's sons came of age; sons who would be specifically, and firmly, trained to hold properly. Not that the new holder <strong>had</strong> to be of the Bloodline, but following the precepts of inheritance outlined in the Charter would pacify the nervous Lords. To Paulin's way of thinking, competence should always be the prime decider in succession, and that was not always passed on in the genes of Bloodlines.<br/>
For that matter, Paulin's eldest nephew had shown a sure grasp of hold management. Sidny was a hard worker, a fair man, and a good judge of character and ability. Paulin was half tempted to recommend him up for Fort's leadership when he was gone. He had a few reservations about his son, Matthew, but Paulin knew that he tended to be more critical of his own Blood than others were.</p>
</blockquote><p>Of course, there's always the problem that the regent will just never let go of the strings until he has a proper puppet in place, which is essentially what is being proposed here. It's okay, though, because these are the good guys who believe in what we, as the reader, already know to be true. Sovereignty is always tricky, especially when trying to intervene in another country about their own practices and about a threat that is currently just in the abstract.</p><p>Their Harper descendants don't have any trouble or qualm about manipulating succession in their own favor, of course. Anyone who strays from the orthodoxy is brought back into line relatively quickly. Only those that can keep the Harpers out can hold on to their power for a little while.</p><p>Paulin also realizes that accessing the genealogy is going to be more difficult, now that the computerized records and databases aren't present as he gives a rider the message for M'shall about the impeachment polling.</p><p>(Random note: Crom Hold should be more properly CROM hold, as an acronym of the founders.)</p><p>M'shall bursts into Paulin's office not too soon after the message is dispatched, with further news that Chalkin is not only seizing the lands of those that disagree with him, he's herding those that want to leave into pens at the border and leaving them exposed to the ice storms that Iantine had caught the beginning of earlier in the book, and some of the people there have been used for some sort of target practice. Paulin and M'shall are convinced the situation warrants immediate action, as well as having to give a thought to how to protect any aid from attack while not giving Chalkin the opportunity to claim he's being interfered with.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Paulin felt nauseous. That sort of thing was straight out of the ancient bloody history the settlers had deliberately left behind: evolving a code of ethics and conduct that would make such events improbable! The planet was settled with the idea that there was room enough for everyone willing to work the land that was his or hers by Charter-given birthright.</p>
</blockquote><p>Which only works until you run out of land, of course, which depends entirely on the fertility rate of the population and whether it not you inherit all the ancestral lands as well as your own. This problem was going to happen anyway, and Thread only exacerbates it. Chalkin happens to be someone who doesn't particularly care about looking good in front of anyone else, so long as he has legal justification for doing what he's doing. If and when Thread falls on his subjects, Chalkin will be inconvenienced, certainly, but he's still not going to care enough to want to protect anyone but himself, his family, and his wealth. He's a dictator trying to get others to make concessions to him so that the biological weapon doesn't kill his subjects.</p><p>
  <i>[There's some extra something to reading these, when not long after posting this chapter, it would be the stated belief and enforced policy of the United States government to incarcerate the undocumented in cages and pens at the border, whether they were adults or children, where they would freeze from too-high air conditioners, or roast from being out in the elements with the barest of cover above them, all because the administrator said and acted as though all immigrants from a country he wanted to be racist toward were criminals or dangerous people who deserved cruel and inhumane treatment because they were fleeing inhumane conditions and didn't ask politely and wait forever for a visa that was going to be denied them.]</i>
</p><p>M'shall formulates a plan to provide some aid and dragonriders that won't give Chalkin reason to claim the Weyrs aren't neutral, and K'vin gets the short explanation when he knocks and enters, also very hot under the collar about Chalkin's behavior. Paulin would love to show the currently-objecting Lords what's going on in person, but the Chair can't act without the unanimity he needs. (The two holdouts are apparently powerful enough that their objection counts<i>[, despite only a few chapters beforehand, we were explicitly told that unanimity wasn't needed to impeach a Lord, just enough of them to do it. Paulin might want the Lords to act as a united front, but he's already got enough evidence to act and impeach. Which brings us back to the question of enforcement. If Paulin is staying his hand because he believes the objectors will help Chalkin stay in power, that's worth saying explicitly, because otherwise, it looks like he lacks the courage of his convictions.]</i>) So the two Weyrleaders go off to enact their plan, and bring Iantine along to sketch the scene. Which is what you might expect in a situation where people are nearly-naked in the cold, huddled together for warmth, with listless children, dead old people, and guards who are sheltered, warmed, wearing jewelry that isn't theirs, eating animals that aren't theirs, and everyone but the guards with a sign of violence done to them on their bodies. The Weyr rescue the people and take them back, and Iantine continues to draw what he saw, stopping only for a bit to eat (and even then, needing reassurance that all the refugees have eaten, too) and then a bit to sleep at the end.</p><p>Zulaya comes back from her rescue mission <em>pissed</em>.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"I knew he was a greedy fool and an idiot, but not a sadist. There were three pregnant women at the Forest Road border and they'd been raped because, of course, they couldn't sue the guards later on a paternity claim."<br/>
"Are the women all right?" K'vin asked, appalled by yet another instance of the brutality. "We arrived at the North Pass just in time to spare three lads from...very unkind attentions by the guards. Where does Chalkin find such men?"<br/>
"From holds that have tossed them out for antisocial behavior or criminal activities, of course," Zulaya replied, almost spitting in anger. "And that blizzard's closed in. We moved just in time. If we hadn't, I fear most of these people would be dead by morning. Absolutely nothing allowed them! Not even the comfort of a fire!"</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>I'd say these were flagrant violations of the rules of war, except there isn't a war going on, just a despot secure that he can abuse his subjects and nobody will step in and intervene from the UN. This is a step up from the usual mode of operations of Bitra, but it is more evidence that Bitra, such as it is, should probably have collapsed long before this point. <i>[Or so I wanted to believe.]</i></p><p>Methods of vengeance are discussed by K'vin and Zulaya and dismissed, and the two interview a refugee couple.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Not to take our sow, though," his mate said, her expression rebellious. "We needed that 'un to make more piggies to meet the tithe <strong>he</strong> set." Like her man, she is a stress on the pronoun. "Took our daughter, too, to work in the hold when we wanted her land grant. Said we didn't work what we had good enough so we couldn't have more."<br/>
"Really?" Zulaya said, deceptively mild as she shot K'vin a meaningful glance. "Now that's interesting, Holder Ferina."<br/>
[...the dragons have known all along, apparently?...]<br/>
"But <strong>he</strong> says we got it wrong and we ain't had no teacher to ask," the man was saying. "An' thassa 'nother thing--we should have a teacher for our kids."<br/>
"At least so they can read the Charter and know what rights you have," Zulaya said firmly. "I've a copy we can show you right now, so you can refresh your memories."<br/>
The two exchanged alarmed glances.<br/>
"In fact," Zulaya went on smoothly, "I think we'll be someone read you your rights...since it would be difficult for you to turn pages with bandaged hands, Brookie. And you're not in much better shape, Ferina."</p>
</blockquote><p>Before getting into the latest of Chalkin's offenses, I will note that in the society Pern models itself on, literacy is not a widespread goal for the population, and legal literacy would be even less so. Situations such as this would be commonplace, and the people would essentially have to rely on the understanding that if Chalkin taxes his people so much that they can't survive, there won't be anyone to tax next year. If Chalkin breaks the contract, this is the result, assuming he's not deposed and killed. In Terran history, the various churches and denominations of Christianity were nominal checks on the abuse of this power in Latin Christendom, as priests and prelates could incite insurrection or plea with another nation to invade and conquer them to get this horrible ruler off their back. The dragonriders, though, are sworn to not interfere in Hold duties, so they can't officially fill this role, much as they would be very good at it.</p><p>That said, stealing daughters in a world that uses children to expand land is generally a no-no, and the refusal of a land grant is likely actually spelled out as a Charter offense that Chalkin could be brought up on for impeachment.</p><p>After the Telgar Weyrleaders send out for help to get a copy of the charter and someone to read it, the action shifts over to the reading of a message from Chalkin, intended for Paulin, about how dragonriders are derelict in their duties, because he has apparently been flying a red-striped banner, indicating the need for a dragon to take an urgent message, for several days now and no dragon has come to see him, even though they have been close enough to see the banner. On top of that, Chalkin adds:</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Not only have they been interfering with the management of this hold, but they fill the minds of my loyal holders with outrageous lies. I demand their immediate censure. They are not even reliable enough to perform those duties which fall within their limited abilities.</p>
</blockquote><p>The Holders and riders listening are all unimpressed, and quite upset, at Chalkin's accusations, especially in light of how he is treating his loyal holders. As it turns out, some of the guards involved in the incidents the dragonriders intervened in are being held in custody so that they can give testimony to what happened. The Holder and the Weyrleader decide it's a good time to visit the holdouts and explain to them what's actually going on, as well as visit Paulin and deliver the message. Thus ends Chapter IX, with yet more reasons to make an example of Chalkin and cement him firmly in our minds as not just an unbeliever, but an awful, evil person aside from his heterodoxy.</p><p>Could we have a villain in a book that isn't over-the-top? Just someone who doesn't agree and follow the line, and who otherwise is acting reasonably in line with that belief? In this time period, it would be perfect to have someone filling the role, and the book actually being about presenting the best evidence for and against?</p><p>
  <i>[Director's Cut me can only shake their head at the thought that someone like Chalkin would be considered over-the-top, now that I know a little bit more about what despots have done historically and what they are capable of doing in the now, even for places that think of themselves as strong governments and civil services that can resist that kind of pressure or autocrat behavior. Because we have yet again had it rudely redefined for us what qualifies as over-the-top and beyond what could be done, and what is merely waiting for someone who lacks scruples. The letter that Chalkin sends could very easily be read in the voice of the man who followed Barack Obama to the presidency. So later-me apologizes to earlier me and wishes that their belief about Chalkin being the stuff of fantasy were still intact, because we would like to still live in a world where people are honorable and principled and ethical enough not to behave like what we thought were over-the-top dystopian villains.]</i>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Lurching Toward A Conclusion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last time, the dragonriders intervened in a humanitarian crisis on the borders of Bitra, and continued to gather large swaths of evidence that Chalkin is unfit and needs to be impeached.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter X: Content Notes: Ablism, Patriarchal Norms</strong>
</p><p>Chapter X begins with the attempt to convince Jamson, one of the undecided Lords, of Chalkin's bad behavior, but Jamson is unconvinced that such behavior is possible, and also has no desire to go out and verify things for himself because it's winter in High Reaches. M'shall points out that Chalkin's complaint about dragonriders not attending to his urgent signal is void because Weyrs have the right to refuse service to anyone (much like the Crafts do) with sufficient justification, and he and Bridgeley leave before Jamson can respond. But Jamson is still not convinced. "One simply does <strong>not</strong> impeach a Lord Holder overnight! Not this close to Threadfall," he says, and he's right that the process shouldn't be easily doable, but at this point, there's enough evidence that a trial should be getting underway shortly. Azury, who lives at Southern Boll, in much warmer climate, is not convinced initially, but does take up the offer to do his own interviews and see if there are liars or exaggerations going on. He comes back convinced, and the three go to see Richud of Ista, who is out fishing and has a lot of dolphins by his boat, because he claims the dolphins understand him. (We know, of course, that they do. One would think that the people of this time know as well, given that they've had access to the computers until recently.) Richud is on board, but asks that they hold the vote on a day he isn't out fishing.</p><p>Which leaves Jamson. This time, they go back with Azury and with Iantine's drawings.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Very good idea, if Jamson will accept the proof as genuine," the Southern Boll Holder said skeptically.<br/>
Which is exactly what happened.<br/>
"How can you be sure these are accurate?" the High Reaches Lord Holder said when he had leafed through the vivid and detailed drawings on Iantine's pad. "I think the whole matter has been exaggerated out of proportion." He closed the pad halfway on the stark sketch of the hanging man.</p>
</blockquote><p>It is entirely possible that what I am about to say is strongly influenced by the fact that I'm writing it in a time where the President of the United States and several of the high officials of his government and campaign are currently being investigated as to whether they accepted and directed the machinations of a foreign government to interfere in an election, and then appear to have taken actions to obstruct the truth from coming out, but if Jamson turns out to have been bribed or bought off by Chalkin, I'm noting that I've called it all the way back from here.</p><p>
  <i>[As we would later learn out here in 21st c. Terra, it wouldn't take a bribe or being bought off to be able to stall an impeachment in the United States case. All it needed was for enough people in a house of government to put their party above their country, and no matter how many times a president or any other government official could be impeached, nothing would happen because there wouldn't be enough will or votes to convict. Even with all the evidence that the person who is currently in charge is causing great harm, so long as that harm isn't to them or the people that support them, they don't care.] </i>
</p><p>
 Not that the narrative wants to give me the satisfaction, as right after Jamson dismisses them firmly, his son, who has been conveniently listening outside both times, offers to provide what help he can to get Jamson on board, while noting that Jamson's memory and faculties have started to deteriorate over the last year. Paulin, the party's next stop, volunteers that the son has been increasingly shouldering the responsibilities of running the Hold, but he can't declare Jamson unfit and take over, even though Paulin knows who's likely running the show there. Paulin praises the new learning scheme for including Charter rights in it, as well as rote learning as a method in times where databases are not available, to which he gets a side-eye from a significant body of research that flatly contradicts that idea, but characters know only what their writers know.
</p><p>The action shifts back to Iantine, painting Zulaya, but it's K'vin's perspective as the viewpoint character, so that we can continue to sexualize the Weyrwoman while she sits. K'vin is pleased that Zulaya is wearing the red dress, as well as having her hair done up in such a way that uses the combs he got for her at the last Turn's End celebration. He mentally praises the expression Iantine has painted on her face, and there's a short flashback where he gets convinced that the idea of portraits of everyone in the Weyr is a good idea, if for no other reason that to remember who was there when the inevitable happens during the Fall.</p><p>Zulaya calls a halt, examines the portrait and is slightly unnerved at the way the eyes of the portrait follow the viewer around the room, before they turn to the issue of hot klah and whether or not Iantine's sketches were enough to convince everyone.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Iantine grinned as if, K'vin noted with a twinge of jealousy, totally at ease with the Weyrwoman. Few were, except Tisha, who treated everyone like an errant child, or Leopol, who was impudent with everyone.</p>
</blockquote><p>K'vin's jealousy has to get him in trouble at some point in this narrative, since we keep coming back to it. But also, Tisha seems to be Manora and Silvina rolled together and I could have double-checked to make sure that line wasn't Piemur instead of Leopol. Characters need to be differentiated more instead of the stock tropes of a type of character.</p><p>As it is, Zulaya mentions that Jamson is not fully there mentally, and getting worse, according to her sources, but Jamson would have to abdicate for anyone else to take charge according to the Charter, which everyone has been rereading or relistening to, and noting that it gives a lot of leeway to the Lord Holder to do things, although it's immediately followed by "he's [Chalkin] abrogated almost every right the holders are supposed to have" such as denying the trial by jury required before stripping a holder of their lands. There are also apparently provisions for collusion or mutiny, and a process by which a formal list of grievances can be delivered to the Lord Holder. Jamson's reluctance to interfere in another's business and skepticism about the drawings is met by Zulaya remaining (justifiably) upset about the violence done to the pregnant women.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"How are they?" K'vin asked.<br/>
"One has delivered prematurely, but she and the babe will be all right. The others...well, Tisha's doing what she can...getting them to talk it all out before it festers too much in their minds."<br/>
"They can swear out warrants against the guards--" Iantine began.<br/>
"They have," Zulaya said in a harsh tone, her smile unpleasant. "And we have the guards. As soon as the women feel strong enough to testify, we're convening a court here. And M'shall wants to try the murderers he's holding at Benden."<br/>
"Two trials, then?"<br/>
"Yes, one for rape and one for murder. Not at all our usual winter occupation, is it?" Zulaya said in a droll tone.</p>
</blockquote><p>K'vin remarks that the Charter is actually rather detailed, and asks the obvious question about whether they can hold trial of another Hold's men for actions they took in that Hold.</p><p>They can. "Justice can be administered anywhere, provided the circumstances warrant," we are told. But all the same, the three agree to keep the idea only between those that have to be involved, so as not to provoke things that could get in the way, like Chalkin showing up.</p><p>That ends the chapter, but I want to keep talking about a couple things. First, I'm actually kind of surprised that the Charter document is as detailed as we are told. I was envisioning it more like the United States Constitution, or the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms - a fairly broad document that would then be hammered out by subsequent legislation and court decisions establishing the boundaries and implementations of those rights. But apparently the Charter has specific things spelled out in it that are planet-wide no-nos, such as rape and murder. I'm glad they're there, because it suggests there was a little more thought put into things than has been implicated before. I'm also a bit interested in how the provision of justice being applicable everywhere runs up against the autonomy of the Holder in their Hold. If it's legal to defraud someone in Bitra, but Telgar prosecutes any and all cases of fraud vigorously, what happens when at a Fort Gather, a Telgarian can conclusively prove that the Bitran game is rigged so that nobody can win it? Whose law applies - Fort, Telgar, Bitra, or just the Charter? And who is recording these decisions for posterity?</p><p>Second, it appears that we have found the missing counselors and psychologists, and, as usual, it is untrained headwomen taking on these roles, without compensation or acknowledgement of what they are doing. Not just in emotional labor terms, which is a construction that might not have been available to the author, but the standing assumption that the headwoman is essentially the Weyr mother and confidante, so any issues like this that would need a sensitive touch go straight to her. I'd be interested in a story where we get to see all the work the headwoman does on a regular basis, just so that we can see how much gets piled on her shoulders. And who does she turn to when she needs help with everything?</p><p>Next chapter is going to start with the trials. I can hardly wait to see what constitutes the justice system at this point in Pernese history.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. ...and justice for whom?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last time, one Lord Holder held out on impeachment on the principle that one does not remove someone from office lightly, right before the narrative undercut that position by telling us the holdout was mentally ill and having problems with his faculties. Because, as we are about to find out, it's not possible for someone to put up a true effort against the designated heroes.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter XI: Content Notes: </strong>
</p><p>This chapter title breaks the naming convention of Pern chapters, which usually just list the name of the place, and sometimes, a time period or designation. This chapter is specifically titled "The Trials at Telgar and Benden Weyrs," which suggests an event of monumental importance - except that it's the trial of various flunkies and guards, not the impeachment of Chalkin. As trials go, unless this produces testimony that can be used to nail Chalkin to the wall, these aren't that important. Jaxom's trial of Norist and the other Lords Holder would deserve a break more than this one does.</p><p>Jamson is unable to attend the trial at Benden, but we are told that representatives from every Weyr and Hold are able to attend. Even though there's a blizzard covering Bitra, that phrasing means someone from there is present, even though I suspect that's not actually the case. Jamson is missed at this trial because it's on a subject he would actually care about.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>The Lady Holder Thea came, annoyed that Jamson had a legitimate excuse for his absence and had sent Gallian [regent son] in his place.<br/>
"It might have done that stubborn streak of his some good to hear just how Chalkin conducts his hold. Oh, he'd've spouted on about autonomy but he must certainly is against any harm coming to unborn children." Thea gave Zulaya a significant nod, reminding those around her that she had borne fourteen children to Lord Jamson in the course of her fertile years: sufficient to substantially increase the borders of their lands when the children were old enough to claim their land grants.</p>
</blockquote><p>...wow. Not at the number of children, because I've seen plenty of good Catholic families that can get to fourteen children in our current age, but Lady Thea must have an iron constitution, because that would mean no more than one Cesarian, and, depending on what level of medical care is actually available at this point in time, potentially having done it in a world of potentially sixteenth- to eighteenth-century Terran medical care. <strong>And</strong> she and her fourteen children all survive to adulthood. That's a sort of thing where one might start looking for the Infinite Improbability Drive. <i>[A comment on the original points out that fourteen might be the number of surviving children, not the number that she was pregnant with or even gave birth to, so all hail Lady Thea.]</i></p><p>Although, if all the Lords Holder have the same feelings toward fetuses (seeing them as land investments instead of children), that might explain the conspicuous absence of chemical or herbal birth control everywhere. Lady Thea was probably forbidden from traveling by dragon any time it might have been possible she was pregnant.</p><p>Okay, on with the trial.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Held in the capacious Lower Cavern at Benden Weyr, the first of the two trials was a sobering, well-conducted affair. At one time on Pern, there had been trained legists on Pern, but the need for such persons had waned.</p>
</blockquote><p>No, it fucking did <strong>not</strong>, because this is not the first time in 250 years that a matter has crossed jurisdictions or someone has appealed to the Charter or an impartial court would need to be established! And even if you corrected that sentence to point out that the transference of the power of the court to the Lord Holder is what happened, that could potentially reduce the number of lawyers you would need, but I suspect it would have the opposite effect.</p><p>Furthermore, at least in my opinion, the narrative contradicts itself with the justification as to why there are fewer lawyers.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Most arguments are settled by negotiated compromise or, when all negotiation efforts failed, by hand-to-hand combat.</p>
</blockquote><p>
<i>[Have a cocowhat. We haven't had one in a while.]</i>
</p><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>What, you mean <em>mediation and arbitration</em>, and failing that, a formal duel? Now, who usually takes on the role of the impartial expert in situations that call for meditation and arbitration?</p><p><em>Lawyers</em>.</p><p>An easy way out of this conundrum, if you wanted to continue in the crass denigration of Bitra, but also to give them a useful service that would justify their continued existence, you could make all the legists Bitran. It gives everyone else a reason to hate them and to warn everyone else away from ever making a contract with them, because <em>they write the damn things</em>! And it would provide them with a significant amount of income to power the games with (and make everyone suspicious the games are rigged).</p><p>Ugh. Instead, what we have is people apparently hammering out an agreement between each other, then trusting them to follow through on it. Or then fighting over who is right in a dispute. Which has nothing to do with who might be right in a dispute.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Consequently, a spokesperson for the accused guards had to be found. One of the teachers from Fort Hold who specialized in legal contracts and land deeds reluctantly agreed to officiate.<br/>
Gardner had not been very enthusiastic about involving himself, however briefly, with rapists, but he recognized the necessity of representation and did his best. He had perfunctorily questioned the victims as to the identity of their alleged assailants and tried to shake their testimony. The three women were no longer the frightened, half-starved wretches who had been so abused. Their time in the Weyr had done wonders for their courage, self-esteem and appearance.</p>
</blockquote><p>Yes, being taken seriously in your rape charges, having the rapists arrested, and having a court that will not only prosecute them, but likely convict them, and also having a place that didn't shame you and supported you is very much going to increase your self-esteem and courage.</p><p>Also, a contract lawyer is not a criminal defense lawyer. Those guards are not going to get the defense they would be entitled to. They just aren't.</p><p>Also, importantly, contracts and land deeds are handled by teachers from the college. Someone is still helping resolve disputes and is doing legal work to make sure everyone knows what's going on, so there aren't competing land claims. There's still all sorts of need for lawyers. So the narrative can be quiet about how the need for them has somehow waned and been replaced by a trial by combat system.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Gardner even insisted that they had been rehearsed in their testimony, but that did not mitigate the circumstances of the grievous bodily and mental harm inflicted on them.<br/>
"Sure, I rehearsed," the oldest of the women said loudly. "In me mind, night and night, how I was flung down and...done by dirty men as wouldn't have dared step inside a decent woman's hold with such notions in their head. I ache still rehearsing," and she spat the word at him, "what they did, again and again and again." For emphasis she slammed one fist into the other hand. Gardner had ceased that line of questioning.<br/>
In the end he managed one small concession for the accused: the right to be returned to their Contract Hold, following the trial, rather than have to make their own way back to Bitra.</p>
</blockquote><p>Which isn't really a concession as much as it is a sentence of exile. There's a little about how Chalkin protested heavily about the dragonriders and how the dragonriders would happily chew out Chalkin out "when his guards said 'they was only following orders to keep the holders from leaving!'" This should also count as evidence enough against Chalkin for his impeachment, which would have likely been accomplished by now if there was an independent judiciary to bring the charges to. <i>[Or if the dragonriders got off their damn duffs and <strong>did something</strong>, but I suppose there would be no story to tell, if at the first sign that Chalkin needed deposing, the people with the power to be able to depose him did it and things got better.</i></p><p>
  <i>Furthermore, if the curriculum contained things like the history of Terra in it, they would hopefully take at least a small stop at the second Great War because of the Nuremburg trials that established as a legal precedent that "I was only following orders" is not an acceptable defense to the commission of atrocities, and that each soldier, at least in war, is charged with refusing unlawful orders and not committing atrocities against civilians. And, in theory, all of the times those principles were successfully applied against both those who ordered atrocities and those who committed them. Not that policing or soldiering is the kind of place where someone leaves training with a well-developed sense of morals and ethics, based on the kinds of violence played out daily for us, or that we learn about being done in our names.]</i>
</p><p>M'shall took the role as the prosecutor, and there were three judges and twelve jurists, so it had all the trappings of an independent court, except the part where no competent defense lawyer could be found and there's no way in hell that anyone in attendance could be selected as a neutral juror in the case. All in all, six men are convicted, three as the rapists, and three as accomplices.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>The penalty for the rape of a pregnant woman was castration, which was to be carried out immediately. The others were to receive forty lashes, well laid on by Telgar's large and strong stewards.<br/>
"They were lucky there isn't Fall," Zulaya remarked to Irene, Lady Thea, and K'vin. "Otherwise they could also have been tied out during the next Fall."<br/>
Despite herself, Thea gave a shudder. "By its probably why there are so few cases of rape recorded in our hold's annals."<br/>
"Small wonder," K'vin said, crossing his legs again. Zulaya had noticed his defensive position and her lips twitched briefly. He turned away. His weyrmate had nearly cheered aloud when the verdict was delivered.</p>
</blockquote><p>Well, shit. That's harsher punishment than is written into the laws of our times. Whomever wrote the Pernese Charter, there were clearly women writing the part about what the punishments for rape are. Unless, of course, this punishment is specifically for the rape of a pregnant woman, which would mean that it's more likely that the punishment is either for violence against an unborn child (like Jamson's firm conviction) or for screwing another man's property, both of which would be much more in line with Pern's overarching philosophy. <i>[Which it is. Read the quote above, self. Since we don't know what the punishment for rape of a non-pregnant woman is, but it's apparently different, the most logical assumption is that it's being treated as a property crime, rather than a crime against humanity.]</i></p><p>The last guard protests that only Chalkin can deal with him, because he's the one that holds the contract, but he's told that it wouldn't have made a difference and the sentences are carried out. The three women ask to go back to their holds, with renewed backbone and desire to stop anyone else from trying to turf them out. And then the narrative supplies me with more support to my theory that Bitra shouldn't exist by actually confirming some of my speculations.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Of course, you can't tell if Chalkin doctored the last census or not, but he's supposed to have 24,567 inhabitants."<br/>
"Really?" Zulaya was surprised.<br/>
"But then, Bitra's one of the smaller holds and doesn't have any indigenous industry--apart from some forestry. The mining's down to what's needed locally. There's a few looms working but no great competition for Keroon or Benden."<br/>
"And the gaming," Thea said with a disgusted sniff.<br/>
"That's Chalkin's main industry."</p>
</blockquote><p>So, apart from gaming, Bitra has no exports. I have to assume that Bitra's internal production is enough for Bitra, because they clearly aren't getting imports, since they've basically tried to screw every potential supplier they could have. Or perhaps they have a laundering operation in the same way the time-skipped exiles of Southern did, where Bitran money is used to bribe merchants into breaking their embargoes, or in to having fronts purchase the goods that are then shipped on to Bitra. Because as described, there's no way Bitra should exist at this point.</p><p>The next trial, apparently, also uses Gardner as the defense lawyer, but this time for murder, and the jury doesn't buy that killing someone is justifiable when your orders are to "restrain by any means." <i>[Which makes them better than the U.S. court system of the time, which believes that a police officer that is acting as a police officer has "qualified immunity" from facing the consequences of harming or murdering someone, so long as they were acting as a police officer and it wasn't stonkingly obvious that they knew what they were doing was wrong and they did it anyway.]</i></p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>The men were sentenced to be transported to the Southern Islands by dragonback with a seven-day supply of food, which was the customary punishment for murderers.</p>
</blockquote><p>Okay, that's interesting. Exile for murderers, castration for rapists, beatings for accessories. And this is apparently what is laid out on the Charter or is the custom of Pern. I really can't square these punishments with the idea that Pern is supposed to be some future society ideal, but then again, I assume those ideals are Star Trek, not Galt's Gulch, so... (And also, I find it interesting that rapists get a much more permanent punishment than murderers do, given that we know that people can survive in the South, although usually by accident rather than by intent.)</p><p>Chalkin, of course, sends a threat that he intends to get compensation for the "ritual disfigurement of men only doing their duty," and shouts at the dragonrider that comes to collect such a message about all the sins and problems of dragonriders. <i>[In theory, the dragonrider that witnessed this should be able to report back that Chalkin admitted to ordering these acts that are in clear violation of the Charter and the shared humanity of everyone, and with the dragonrider as witness, the dragonridersand Lords  should be able to act to depose Chalkin. Really, all the dragonrider has to say is "he threatened me" and all of the other dragonriders will back his decision to knife Chalkin then and there as completely justified self-defense, regardless of what actually happened and how many witnesses there were.]</i></p><p>After all that, the action settles back onto the weyrlings of Telgar and Iantine and Debera, whose dragon (and her) figure in more than a few sketches, prompting others to say that Iantine is in love, head over heels with Debera, and the other girls are laughing at Debera's cluelessness, but also their own insecurities about what happens when their dragons rise to mate.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"To him it probably does," Grasella said, "but, Jule, I'm more worried about the blue riders. I mean, some of them are very nice guys and I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings, but they don't generally like girls."<br/>
"Oh," and Jule [who is Weyrbred] shrugged indolently, "that's easier still. You make an arrangement with another rider to be on hand when your green gets prod-dy. Then the blue gets his mate, if he's got one, or anyone who's willing--and you'd better believe that anyone's willing when dragons are going to participate. So bed the one you like, and the blue rider his choice, and you <strong>all</strong> enjoy!"<br/>
The girls absorbed this information with varying degrees of enthusiasm or distaste.</p>
</blockquote><p>Yet more evidence that others would, and probably should, find dragonriders to be a weird sex cult. Jule is blasé about the fact that people in the Weyr sleep around, especially when under the influence of dragons. To the Craft and Holdbred, who are probably being fed a very steady diet of arranged monogamy, and especially Debera, who <em>escaped her own arranged marriage</em> to the Weyr, this casual attitude toward sex should be shocking and scandalous, but nobody protests too loudly, as if all these women have just accepted the new reality as an objective fact. <i>[Also, this is the first and last book this idea of an arrangement appears in, because just about everyone else who we have to talk about dragons getting proddy with either has their preferred monogamous partner as the one whose dragon wins the mating flight, or they're in an orgy of sorts, or they're not important enough for us to peer into their lives. Or they're a paired-off lesbian, as Xhinna and Taria will be when we get to the Fiona books. Because this idea is a sensible way of doing things that should be taught to all the weyrlings and seen as common practice, it will appear solely for this book and no other.]</i></p><p>Debera, for example, while she's a bit embarrassed at Iantine falling for her, (and Morath confirming Iantine likes her) is a lot more textually embarrassed by the fact that she's going to get new clothes.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>She had tried to argue with Tisha that the beautiful green dress was quite enough: she didn't need more. Tisha had ignored that and demanded that she choose two colors from the samples available: one for evening and another good one for daytime wear. Everyone in the Weyr, it seemed, had new clothes for Turn's End. And yet, something in Debera had delighted in knowing she'd have two completely new dresses that no one had worn before her. She had, she admitted very quietly to herself, hoped that Iantine would notice her in them. Now, with Morath's information, she wondered if he'd notice at all that she was wearing new clothes.</p>
</blockquote><p><em>This</em> is the right attitude for someone to have who has gone from relative poverty to apparent abundance. She has one dress that is probably fancier than what Debera has ever worn in her life, a dress that would probably have been made for her wedding, if the family had saved enough to contract a Weaver for it. And now, there's someone insisting that she get two more dresses of the same quality for daily usage, as if these are, essentially, commodities. Debera understands the value and work put into the dresses, and wants to treat them as such. I would think that the others from outside the Weyr would also have similar reactions to their own fancy clothes.</p><p>The conversation goes on to talk about finding living spaces, and Jule ends up making a tasteless comment about how there will be space available for them when the time comes, with the implication of fatalities that all of them pick up on immediately. Jule apologizes immediately and the subject gets changed swiftly after an uncomfortable silence. The narrative shifts away, as well, to get away from that reality.</p><p>Clisser and Jemmy are, naturally, arguing. Jemmy is being short with Clisser, who wants status reports on the latest of the history ballads, over the trial. Jemmy thinks the trial was a farce and the guards should have just been sent to exile immediately. Clisser contends the trial was necessary to prove that people don't act arbitrarily, and Jemmy snorts that such things are to position themselves against Chalkin. <i>[Jemmy is right, because neither Lords nor dragonriders seem to be all that much in a hurry to do anything, and they've already got more than enough evidence against Chalkin to throw him out. The trial was a sham and everything that happened was meant for theatrical value more than for anything resembling a fair trial and potential justice.]</i></p><p>Jemmy has reconstructed an abacus and slide rule to replace digital calculators and pads. (In theory, the slide rule allows for complex maths at nearly the same speed as digital calculation, but you have to be trained on it to achieve that speed, and you have to know what scales to use.) He's also trying to figure out something that was done in the past to mark astronomical occurrences, and Clisser helps, albeit unintentionally, Jemmy land on Stonehenge as the likely candidate for imitation, and then is dismissed so that Jemmy can work on everything. Sallisha meets him just outside the office and gives him a full piece of her mind about the choices of subjects. Greek history and culture, she says, is essential so that people know where their government system comes from. Except Pern is not an Athenian democracy. Or, for that matter, a Roman republic. Perhaps, maybe, Sparta, given that the dragonriders really could rule any time they wanted. But no, Pern is feudalism. So Clisser's objection, "...there is no point in forcing hill farmers and plains drovers to learn something that has absolutely no relevance to their way of life," is right, but not for the reasoning that he has underneath it. Sallisha and Clisser go back and forth about what's important to learn, with Clisser heavily on the side of "Pern is the important history to learn, as well as obligations to their betters and their rights under the charter" and Sallisha very much on the side of "knowing where you came from is most important." They hash on about how terrible it is that so few people knew their rights, and why Chalkin hasn't been removed, before Clisser says that Sallisha will be teaching the South Nerat circuit and gives her a new contract and her new syllabus. And that's the end of the chapter.</p><p>I realize, now that I'm at the end of the chapter, that we got cheated on seeing what we actually wanted to see - a Lord Holder's court and hearings not just on matters of crime and discipline, but matters of petty disputes, taxes, and the like. <i>[Not to worry, we'll get very small glimpses of this here and there in later books, but at no point does any author actually want to spend too much time having to think about how a Lord Holder's court would be run, justice dispensed, and his domain overseen. The closest we'll get is when we have books that stay for more than a moment on the Shunned and the people who aren't part of the lords, the dragons, or the guilds, but even then, we're still not actually get what a real court would be like.]</i></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Stuck Until Subterfuge</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last chapter, a judicial process took place, which was legal by the laws of Pern and relatively without precedent, making it both judicial and extrajudicial at the same time. Unsurprisingly, the defense was less than spirited, and the defendants were convicted and exiled or castrated for their involvement.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter XII: Content Notes: Crimes Against Humanity (Torture, Murder)</strong>
</p><p>None of this is enough to budge Jamson, though, who is incensed that "a Lord Holder's right to deal with his own folk" was usurped by the trials, even as he agrees with the sentencing. Paulin and Thea stumble their way into a realization - if they can get Jamson to leave because of his health, Gallian will be invested, and then they will have a unanimity. Gallian is worried about jeopardizing his succession, but Thea assures him that things will be fine, and Paulin wants to get impeachment done before Chalkin retaliates against the people in his Hold. Which he will, of course.<br/>
Gallian is still nervous about all of this.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"I suppose I should get accustomed to <strong>making</strong> decisions, not merely carrying them out."<br/>
Paulin clapped him on the shoulder encouragingly. "That's exactly it, Gallian. And I'll guarantee, not all the decisions you'll be called upon to make will be the right ones. Being a Lord Holder doesn't keep you from making mistakes: just make the right wrong ones." Paulin grinned as Gallian tried to absorb that notion. "If you are right most of the time, you're ahead of the game. And you're right in this one for good reasons which you're father declines to see."</p>
</blockquote><p>That's a refreshingly honest take on leadership - yes, there will be mistakes, but try to make ones that don't end in disasters.</p><p>Gallian wants to know what will happen to Chalkin once he's impeached. Paulin says exile, because it's the only way to make sure Chalkin doesn't keep causing trouble. In the matter of succession, the uncle of the children, Vergerin, is mentioned as a potential, but Paulin thinks Vergerin gambled away his succession. Which, you know, might be an issue if anyone was willing to cede Chalkin enough respect to consider that a bet with honoring. As the two discuss heredity, Thea returns from her attempt to convince Jamson, which was successful - not because she convinced Jamson to leave over his own health, but with some acting and the application of rouge, Thea appeared sick enough that Jamson decided to take them both south until Thea recovered.</p><p>Thea then asks about succession, and is told about Vergerin, and Thea repeats that he gambled his succession away, before Gallian leaves to be appointed as the High Reaches Lord Holder pro tempore. What is to follow, of course, will be kept away from Jamson until it's too late to object.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Four days later, when Lord Jamson and Lady Thea had been safely conveyed to Ista Hold, the rest of the Lord and Lady Holders and the Weyrleaders convened an emergency meeting at Telgar Hold and formally impeached Lord Chalkin for dereliction of his duties and responsibilities to Benden Weyr, for the cruel and unusual punishment of innocent holders (Iantine's drawings were submitted as well as the proceedings of the recent trials), for refusing to allow the Charter to be taught so all would know their rights (Issony gave testimony on that account), and for denying these rights to his holders without due reason.</p>
</blockquote><p>Let's add one important detail to this decision - <em>Chalkin is not present to give a defense</em>. Gallian is surprised that there isn't another trial, but Paulin says that Chalkin just had his. Again, Chalkin is not present at these proceedings, has no opportunity to give a defense, an explanation, or submit any evidence in his favor. Yes, the narrative and the characters have been doing their level best to prove to us that Chalkin is a monster, but if the case is that good against him, Chalkin should be able to offer his defense. The trickiest business would be figuring out how to get him to appear before the council, given the autonomy granted and the general non-interference of the dragonriders.</p><p>S'nan makes a point of refusing to use dragonriders to get Chalkin, but M'shall is totally for it, and the matter quickly becomes a question of "who has been enough in Bitra that they could produce a viable way of grabbing Chalkin and cutting off his ability to escape?" and "who will succeed Chalkin?"</p><p>Vergerin, of course, because he's of the Bloodline, and they intend very firmly to follow the Charter on inheritance, even though there's a <em>third</em> instance of "but he gambled it away", which M'shall finally says something about how he heard Chalkin cheated on it. The dissonance is still...something. They've already impeached Chalkin, but they're still totally willing to abide by a wager that involves him winning something.</p><p>
  <i>[At best, this is one of those Esau and Jacob analogues, but it also highlights the weirdness of a place that is willing to say that someone is abusing their people and not dealing with them fairly, that all of their games for others are rigged, but still believes that that same person manages to win someone's ability to succeed them in a fair game of chance, and that has to be respected. An editor or a beta reader would hopefully flag this up as a problem.]</i>
</p><p>To appease the council, Paulin says that each hold that has a child versed in hold management should send them so they can assist Vergerin in getting Bitra back up and ready in time for Thread. Which just leaves the question of getting Chalkin before he goes to ground. Issony and Iantine are called him, because they have the expertise of having lived there, and between the two, they help the Council plan how to cover all the possible exits.</p><p>But then there's also one other thing about Bitra that we haven't yet been exposed to.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"There's another level," Issony said, tapping the right-hand corner of the paper. "You were lucky not to visit it." He gave a snort. "Chalkin calls it his cold storage." The teacher glanced around the table. "A lot of small cubicles, some horizontal, some vertical, and none of them long enough or wide enough for the poor blighters shoved in 'em."<br/>
"You can't be serious?" S'nan's eyes protruded in dismay.<br/>
"Never more," Issony said. "One of the kitchen girls spilled a tub of sweetener and she was immured for a week. She died of the damp cold of the place."</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <i>[And cocowhat.]</i>
</p><p>
<strong><em>And nobody found this abhorrent, or what?</em></strong>
</p><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>There's a <em>word</em> to describe what kind of place that is. They're oubliettes, which means they are places where people are put to be <em>forgotten until they die</em>. Issony is a teacher, and in theory knows what the Charter says and what the law was like, and yet he waits this long to talk about the place where murder and torture happens for things as small as spilling sugar. Murder is supposed to be punishable under the Charter, and yet it seems that the outsider thinks this is normal discipline between a Lord and his servants.</p><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>The chapter finishes with the plan drawn up and ready to go for the morning, at the point where the guards and the watch-wher are felt to be least effective.</p><p>We're more than halfway through the book, with all sorts of heinous activities as having taken place, and now, finally, we've managed to get to the point of removing the Bitran Lord Holder, because a lot of people have either turned away or been bound by rules rather than trying to do good. No wonder their descendants can't defeat Fax.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Finally...oh.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last chapter, there were finally enough stars aligned for the council to take action against Chalkin, and they summarily impeached him and drew up plans to capture him in his hold to inform him of their decision and sentencing.</p><p>All without giving him the option to defend himself in the court.</p><p>We also learned about yet another atrocity that was known to someone, but nothing was actually done about it.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter XIII: Content Notes: Crimes Against Humanity (Torture), Sexism, untreated PTSD</strong>
</p><p>As one might guess, the actual capture is anticlimactic - even though the watch-wher sounds an alarm, nobody investigates. Everyone gets into Chalkin's chambers, and while the first daughter doesn't scream, the second one does. That alarms the guards, but as soon as Paulin announces Chalkin is impeached, and those who stay loyal will join him in exile, the guards say "Fuck it, we're out," just as the reinforcements arrive.</p><p>And then Chalkin wakes up.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Chalkin showed every fiber of his cowardice, trying to bribe one Lord Holder after another, with hints of unusual treasure if they assisted him. If anyone has been in the least bit tempted, their resolve was strengthened when the broken, shivering wrecks were released from "cold storage."<br/>
"The place was full," Issony said, looking shattered by what he had seen on that level. "Border guards, most of them, but they didn't deserve that from Chalkin!"<br/>
Even the hardiest of them would bear the marks of their incarceration for the rest of their lives.</p>
</blockquote><p>Hang on. This is from the character who, last chapter, mentioned that a girl had died from a week in that space while he was there, but now, <em>now</em> he's shattered by the presence of men in the area who have suffered the same treatment. These men are mostly the same people who were, just a few chapters ago, committing atrocities against others.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Iantine? Did you bring...ah, you did. Do a quick sketch of them, will you," Issony said, pointing to the two so close to death: the two who had been castrated for rape. All that could be done for them was to ease their passing with fellis juice. "To show S'nan. In case he has lingering doubts as to the justice of what was done here today."</p>
</blockquote><p>Issony, you're an asshole. You couldn't manage compassion for the girl killed in this manner, but fellis is ready for the castrated rapists to overdose on so they go quietly.</p><p>This scene would go over much less problematically, actually, if Issony wasn't there at all. Iantine has been portrayed as both sympathetic and empathetic throughout the book. Since he's the one with the artistic talent anyway, he can be making sketches of his own accord, to make evidence of what happened here, as a stark reminder to the council of their utter failure to act when they had the evidence that horrible things were happening to innocent people. Iantine would be rightly shocked and scarred again at seeing something worse than what he had already thought was the worst thing someone could do to others. Issony being present screws with what is supposed to be a moment of genuine realization and horror, because he's seen this before, and he <em>didn't do anything about it</em>.</p><p>As it turns out, the raiding party, having secured Chalkin (who of course has a breakdown that confirms him as guilty and gives the council yet more crimes to convict him of) is soon greeted by Vergerin himself, who has been hiding as a stablehand ever since he realized that Chalkin would be likely to kill him if the council ever got around to removing Chalkin from power. And we know he's good, too. The narrative tells us.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>He had unwound the layers that clothed him and stood with a quiet dignity in the midst of the warmly dressed riders and Lord Holders. It was that innate dignity that impressed Paulin. Nor was he alone in noticing it.</p>
</blockquote><p>See? He's very clearly a noble and upright character, because despite the fact that he's got the smell of shit all over him, he exudes a dignified aura that all the assembled nobles notice.</p><p>And then, probably because the narrative still fails to recognize that it's giving legitimacy to the person who just got deposed, Vergerin references the succession gamble himself and confirms Chalkin cheated, and Paulin nods his approval that Vergerin kept his promise, despite all the evidence present for the last several chapters that Chalkin is a monster that has been doing horrible things to his people all the time he's been in power.</p><p>
  <i>[It's all to reinforce Vergerin's Noble Character, that even though he knows that he was cheated out of his claim, he still abides by the fact that he lost and didn't, say, start an internal war, or take up banditry, or try to get other Lords to interfere, depose Chalkin, and get him installed as the rightful ruler of Bitra. There is a distinct lack of politicking, and the only people who oppose the social order that's been ordained for everyone are people who are clearly villainous. While it gets wrapped in the idea of autonomy and individuality and non-interference, it's much more what would have happened in Latin Christendom if everyone, from Pope to peasant, actually believed and acted in accordance with the prominent belief of the time that a person's lot in life was ordained for them by God and they should be happy with that and never seek to improve their station ever. Which is not in any way, shape, or form close to Randian autonomy and individuality as the most important thing ever. It's very clear that from Terran history, a lot can change in three hundred years, but the least the author could do is acknowledge the change and put material in there about how Charter rights are all good, but they don't do much when there's police demanding the latest taxes in front of you and the person you would appeal to about those taxes being unfair is the person that set them. There will be a little in the Todd books about people being unhappy with the changes that the youth are doing, but there's never any really concerted effort to shore up institutions they think are failing or to preserve knowledge that will be useful, just a "oh, well, what are you going to do?" attitude, from the people who actually have the knowledge and the power to stop the slide. Clisser should be painted as more villainous than he is, because he's actively encouraging the loss of knowledge and the restructuring of society in ways that other members of the College can see will turn out disastrously. But nobody really objects all that much, or strenuously, or tries to get Jemmy to craft their earworms as well. Pern is a very passive place, as if all of the characters already know their efforts would change nothing, so they're not even bothering.]</i>
</p><p>Chalkin appears, sees Vergerin, accuses him of breaking the promise, and tries to hurt him, but is restrained by other Lords. His wife, Nadona, accuses Vergerin of taking everything from her and Chalkin, and appeals to her brother, the Lord Holder of Nerat, to do something. She gets nowhere with this appeal, and the narrative takes pride in telling us "Irene took some pleasure in applying the slaps that cut Nadona's hysterics short." Because slapping women around to shut them up is a time-honored and totally okay thing to do on Pern, we've established, no matter how much of an abuse it is on Terra.</p><p>As Chalkin is hauled out for exile, Paulin takes Vergerin to the nearest room and pours him a drink, "impressed by the man's control in a difficult situation." Nadona, having seen the writing on the wall, has chosen to stay behind and raise her children, rather than follow Chalkin into exile, backed by her excellent knowledge of what her Charter rights are. It takes five men (and a knockout blow from Bastom, as it turns out later) to load Chalkin on the dragon that takes him to exile on one of the islands.</p><p>Iantine's portrait of Chalkin is noted, laughed at for being what it is, and then ordered taken down and fixed to what Chalkin actually looks like. Iantine himself is glad for the opportunity to correct it and thinking a bit about possibly seeing if Debera would take him on as a mate before K'vin returns him to Telgar, where Leopol shows that he really is a palette swap of Piemur.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"One, you rode away on a Fort Weyr dragon. Two, you've been gone overnight so <strong>something</strong> was up. Especially when the Weyrleaders are gone, too. Three, we all know that Chalkin's for the chop, and four, you've come back with a portrait and it isn't the one you've done here." Leopol spread his hands." It's obvious. The Lords and Leaders have got rid of Chalkin. Impeached, deposed, and exiled him. Right?"<br/>
[Iantine nocomments.]<br/>
"But I'm right about Chalkin, aren't I? He won't get ready for Threadfall, he's been far too hard on his people, and half the Lord Holders owe him huge sacks of marks in gambling debts."</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <i>[Cocowhat time.]</i>
</p><p>Oh my GODS and GODDESSES why hasn't this been mentioned until now? If Chalkin has that kind of leverage on the Lords Holder, this should have been a much tougher sell to get him removed. All Chalkin has to do is threaten to expose or collect the debts and he should have sympathetic votes in the council. Even if he's committing atrocities within his own borders, the leverage he has should be enough to stop anyone else from acting against him, especially if it requires unanimity.</p><p>Plus, the scene we had with Chalkin would be playing out differently. Rather than trying to bribe everyone with new riches, Chalkin should be threatening to call in every debt that he has and bankrupt all the Lords he can if they continue to depose him. Chalkin can't be both the mastermind of a planet-wide gambling operation and not smart enough to realize what leverage he has on everyone else. It doesn't work that way. Chalkin is either Stupid Evil and the mastermind is yet uncaught, or he's competent and would know to go straight for the gambling debts.</p><p>
  <i>[The comments on the original point out that if Chalkin has enough debts on everyone, that could work against him, instead, as the other Lords might be more than happy to depose him. Which I agree with, but if that were the case, I would have expected them to be looking for a pretext to depose Chalkin and wipe out their gambling debts. By the time Chalkin is finally deposed, he's given more than enough solid reasons for him to get gone. Lords looking to remove their debts probably would have tried to rustle up any reason, flimsy or otherwise, to get rid of Chalkin and clear their name. Which in turn, would give legitimacy to the reports coming out of Bitra about his atrocities sooner, even if they might have been coming from people that would otherwise be ignored because they're not Lords and bros before everybody, right? If it weren't for the plot having been constructed so that Chalkin can't be easily deposed, despite all the reasons to do so, this book wouldn't exist, because Chalkin would have long since been thrown out on whichever reason could hold up enough to get the required number of votes to get it done. And at least one friendly or sympathetic Weyr who will loan their dragons to enforce the exile. This whole thing has so many reasons not to happen. (And yet, our reality of 21st c. Terra proves that it will happen, and continue to do so, without action even when it's clear action is necessary.)]</i>
</p><p>Iantine's attempts to not give away any information to Leopol are wrecked by Tisha essentially asking him the same questions, which the narrative suggests is a consequence of everyone already knowing the things that Iantine is trying to protect. Iantine answers Tisha, to Leopol's great amusement, and Iantine asks a very good question that gets a very creepy answer.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Do I have no privacy here?" Iantine demanded, raising his hands in helplessness. "Is there no way to keep secrets?"<br/>
"Not in a well-run Weyr there isn't," said Tisha.</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>We're supposed to believe these are the good guys, but cult, cult, cult! Strange sexual practices, an unnaturally cheery attitude toward everything, a society that claims to actively prevent people from having secrets. Pernese Weyrs or Stepford, Connecticut? This should be <em>terrifying</em> to Iantine based on the trauma he suffered at Bitra and the things that he's observed since. Like this:</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>He didn't really want to show the latest drawings he'd done. The two castrated rapists had died shortly after he finished the sketches. He intensely regretted how pleased he had been with their sentences. Had they any idea of what additional torment Chalkin would inflict on them when they asked to be returned to their hold? No, or they wouldn't have gone.</p>
</blockquote><p><em>These are not normal things to witness</em>. And to sketch as evidence. Iantine very much needs space to process these things and a trained counselor to talk them out with, but the only person who might function in that role has just told him that his confidence will not be kept. Iantine should be ready to crack, if he hasn't already done so a few times over.</p><p>And in this case, it wouldn't necessarily help to have someone open the painting that he was ashamed of and start howling in laughter, which is what Tisha and Leopol do on seeing what Iantine painted to Chalkin's satisfaction. The narrative, however, just says</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Iantine was in sore need of a good laugh, and if his inner anxieties kept him from joining in wholeheartedly, at least he was made to grin.<br/>
Tisha's amusement alerted the rest of the Weyrfolk to Iantine's return, and the table was shortly surrounded by people having a good laugh over what Chalkin had considered to be a "satisfactory portrait" of himself.</p>
</blockquote><p>Because Iantine had a direct line to the author, I guess, because there's nobody in any of this sequence that outright says that's why they're having such a loud laugh. It would be just as easy for Iantine, in his more fragile state, to assume that everyone was laughing at his workmanship, rather than the ridiculousness of Chalkin. But that doesn't happen, because magically being able to intuit the right reason, as well as to set aside the terror and trauma that he's witness to be able to smile. When Iantine talks to K'vin, a few scant hours later, though, he sounds a lot more like someone who might be suffering a touch (or more) of PTSD.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"How many people Chalkin had in those appalling cells," Iantine said, blurting it the words before he realized what he was saying.<br/>
K'vin put a sympathetic arm around his shoulders. "I think I'll be a few bad dreams over that myself," and he gave a deep shudder. "Perhaps you'd best get some rest..."<br/>
"No, I'd rather not, if you've something else for me to do," Iantine says truthfully.</p>
</blockquote><p>No, K'vin, you won't. Because you are bonded on a telepathic and empathic level with another creature that will help you get over it fairly quickly, aided by your own sense of justice. Iantine doesn't have that, and is looking specifically for things to do so that he doesn't have to think about it. Iantine needs a serious debrief and some therapy, neither of which he will get.</p><p>The narrative shows us a touch of how K'vin's not all that upset about it, as he and Iantine talk about the portrait that Iantine did of Zulaya, and it's pretty clear, even to Iantine, that K'vin's more upset about having a beautiful woman (that he might even be in love with) as his Weyrwoman who doesn't have any affection for him at all in that way. Iantine notices, but doesn't say anything, about how the public pairing of the Weyrleaders doesn't have any of this clear emotional content that K'vin is showing now.</p><p>The chapter itself, after having put us through all of this characterization and drama, ends with Clisser going to Kalvi with the plans drawn up for the astrological reminder structure, what we now know of as the Eye Rock and the Finger Rock, and Clisser asks Kalvi to have it done by the solstice. That's it. If that's supposed to be our breather, it belongs on the next chapter. Otherwise, it's just mood whiplash.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. May Auld Acquaintance...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last Chapter, Chalkin was deposed, his successor found smelling of shit, and Iantine went back to Telgar traumatized by all he had seen and drawn, to have everyone pester him about what happened and then have a laugh at a piece of art he felt shame about.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter XIV: Content Notes: Sexual Assault</strong>
</p><p>Clearly, this calls for a celebration. Although the chapter opens with telling us about the way that the Conclave meets once on the day before Turn's End (the day of winter solstice) for any remaining business or referenda that require votes of more than the Conclave (Eh? Since when do feudal arrangements also have mass democracy?), whose votes are collected on Turn's End and returned so the Conclave can get the results on their first formal meeting of the year on the first day of the new Turn. The first business this year is getting the new Holder formally installed. Vergerin helps cement that things are different at Bitra by throwing a giant party and paying any extra cost out of his own pocket. (Naturally, Chalkin hid his wealth so well that nobody can find it, and nobody is talking about where it actually is. <i>[Eventually, it'll come out that Vergerin did find it and is spending out of Chalkin's wealth to throw the party.]</i>) Vergerin also gets released from his promise to Chalkin not to contest a succession, and names heirs of his own that aren't Chalkin's kids.</p><p>CROM Hold is granted a probationary status, and then there's a couple more bits of business before Paulin adjourns, including the need to stomp out a rumor that Chalkin was a cannibal while emphasizing that justice happens quickly and publicizing the trials and convictions of the guards. <i>[Because otherwise, someone else might get it in their head to try something similar, having seen from how Chalkin was treated that they could do it for years upon end before the council of Lords could be arsed to do a damn thing. Better to try and make them believe that trying a stunt like that again would result in a much faster justice process.]</i></p><p>Then Clisser gets to watch the installation of an Eye and Finger Rock combination at Benden Weyr, with the understanding that all the other Weyrs will get theirs, too.</p><p>For the most part, though, the chapter decides to take an intimate focus on Iantine and his feelings for Debera as he sketches the night away, stopping for a bit to actually listen to the new composition being debuted tonight, the "Landing Suite" that's going to serve as history for generations to come. There's also a small bit about how everyone is encouraged to read music and pick up an instrument so that there's always going to be music available wherever anyone is. It's certainly a difference between this time and the later Passes, where being able to play well can get a girl beaten and maimed for religious trespasses.</p><p>Leopol is his usual self, although he's clearly taken a liking to Iantine and doesn't want him to leave the Weyr. And Leopol knows, of course, that Iantine and Debera fancy each other, because everyone knows everyone's secrets in a Weyr. And K'vin and Zulaya cut a very fine first dance, which appears to Iantine's eyes like Zulaya is flirting quite heavily with K'vin.</p><p>Where I'm going to focus, though, is generally the last part of the chapter, where Iantine and Debera are together and Morath is pretending not to listen in on their minds. Morath has said a few times in the past that Debera likes Iantine, and so Iantine is getting ready to confess his feelings for her...and is going to do so in the way that men of Pern confess their feelings -- sexual assault.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Ooooh," and suddenly Iantine had a hunch. "Tisha gave all the riders that 'don't do anything you'll be sorry for at Turn's End' lecture?" She gave him a startled look. And he grinned back at her. "I've been read that one a time or two myself, you know."<br/>
"But you don't know," she said, "that it's different for dragonriders. For green riders with very immature dragons." Then she gave him a horrified look as if she hadn't meant to be so candid. "Oh!"<br/>
He pulled her closer to him, even when she resisted, and chuckled. All those casual questions he'd asked dragonriders explained all that she didn't say.<br/>
"Green dragons are...how do I put it kindly? Eager, loving, willing, too friendly for their own good..."</p>
</blockquote><p>That's once she's resisted. Keep counting as they happen.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>She stared up at him, a blush suffusing her cheeks, her eyes angry and get body stiffening against the rhythm of the dance. They were about to pass an opening, one of the corridors that led back to the storage areas of the Weyr. He whirled them in that direction despite her resistance, speaking in a persuasively understanding tone.<br/>
"You're the rider of a young dragonet and she's much too young for sexual stimulation. But I don't think a kiss will do her any damage, and I've <strong>got</strong> to kiss you once before I have to go to Benden."<br/>
And he did so. The moment their lips touched, although she tried to resist, their mutual attraction made the contact electric. She could not have resisted responding -- even to protect Morath's innocence.</p>
</blockquote><p>
<i>[And here's a cocowhat, because I really detest the "she secretly wanted it" trope so, so much.]</i>&lt;
</p><p>
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</p><p>Three times she resisted, but still you had to, Iantine. If you actually liked Debera, you wouldn't be pressuring her into this. We can also take note of whose side the narrative is on - Iantine's, and it's going to use Morath to shore up that position of "clearly, Debera liked it, so nobody should care that she was just violated."</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p><strong>That's very nice, you know.</strong><br/>
"Morath!" Debera jerked her body upright, though her hands clenched tightly on his neck and shoulder. "Oh...dear, what have I done?"<br/>
"Not as much to her as you have to me," Iantine said in a shaky voice. "She doesn't sound upset or anything."<br/>
Debera pushed away to stare up at him -- he thought she had never looked so lovely.</p>
</blockquote><p>Because, as we know from Lessa, when women get angry, it makes them cute and sexy instead of terrifying. Iantine forges ahead with admitting that Morath talks to him occasionally, and also knows his name, a thing that might "really distress her", but that he had to be honest about. Iantine is relieved that Debera hasn't just stormed off. Truthfully, the narrative is probably holding her in place, and it's about to make her justify Iantine's actions toward her.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"I'm glad you do know that [Morath always comes first], but Ian...I don't know what I feel about you, except that I did like your kiss." Her eyes were tender and she glanced shyly away from him. "I'm glad you did kiss me. I've sort of wanted to know..." she said with a ripple in her voice, but still shy.<br/>
"So I can kiss you again?"<br/>
She put her hand on his chest. "Not quite so fast, Iantine! Not quite so fast. For my sake as well as Morath's. Because..." and then she blurted out the next sentence, "I know I'm going to miss you...almost...as much as I'd miss Morath. I didn't know a rider could be so involved with another human. Not like this. And," she increased pressure on the hand that held them apart because he wanted so to kiss her for that, "I can't be honestly sure of it's not because Morath rather likes you, too, and is influencing me."<br/>
<strong>I am not,</strong> said Morath firmly, almost indignantly.<br/>
"She says..." Debera began as Iantine said, "I heard that."</p>
</blockquote><p>Iantine, you are so far in the negative right now that Debera would be well within her privileges to send you out and tell you not to come back. And to report you for what you did, even if she enjoyed it, because you were trying to take advantage of her.</p><p>Thankfully, Iantine does respect <em>Morath</em> enough to not try for anything more sexual.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>They both laughed and the sensual tension between them eased. He made quick use of the opportunity to to kiss her, lightly, to prove that he could and that he did understand about Morath. He had also actually asked as many questions about rider liaisons as discretion permitted. What he'd learned far been both reassuring and unsettling. There were more ramifications to human affairs than he had ever previously suspected. Dragonrider-human ones could get very complicated. And green dragons being so highly strung and sexually oriented were the most complex.</p>
</blockquote><p>That's, what, five times now Iantine has ignored or given pushback to Debera's boundaries? Morath isn't the only one that needs maturity here.</p><p>I do like the characterization, even if unintentional, of dragonriders as a separate species from humans, since they're a kind of gestalt being and at least partially incomprehensible. I still think Iantine is taking things in stride a little too well, especially confronted with the very real likelihood that polyamory is the way the Weyr operates, or at the very least, that Morath is likely going to lead Debera into a life of very casual sex and Iantine isn't going to be her only partner.</p><p>Iantine asks if he's welcome back to the Weyr once he gets done at Benden. Debera says yes, and the two return to the dance with their arrangement worked out, and that's the end of the chapter. Business, a new song that's just as great as all the other ones, and a character sexually assaulting another through her no, only for his victim character and the narrative to tell us "no, really, she wanted it, even though it terrified her."</p><p>
  <i>[Which, y'know, is still pretty much the normal course of things for dragonriders in this series. And will be the normal course of things for dragonriders in the Todd books, too, even though they also end up in the "but it turns out the person they have sex with is their true and destined person, and it's really great sex, so they really did want it and enjoy it, even if they spent a lot of narrative time telling us they want to wait and being extra-nervous about whether they're going to be ready in time for their dragon taking a first mating flight." It's a particularly odious trope, no matter where it appears, but it's a staple of Pern storytelling, so we'll have to get used to it.]</i>
</p><p>Blech. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdNdGKvqTLY">Can we get back to politics, please?</a></p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Taking A Bad Turn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last chapter, business and a party, and also Iantine sexually assaulted Debera, who had to make an appeal to Morath's innocence to get him to stop. But they're still dating.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapters XV and XVI: Content Notes: Fat People As Comedy, Gay Men Assaulted</strong>
</p><p>This chapter opens with Clisser taking stock of all the singing and music done over the last few days, both the new suite and the not-mentioned until now Teaching Songs and Ballads, which are earworms. The Duty Song, we are told, will make sure everyone remembers what their Charter rights and responsibilities are, and Clisser spares a thought for all the students doing manual copying by thinking he should suggest a printing press be created by Kalvi. Which he then dismisses because presses need paper, and the wood forests are going to be vulnerable to Thread. (Shows how much he remembers about papermaking, though, because Terran history reminds us that wood pulp is not the only thing that you can transform into paper.) Mostly, though, Clisser concerns himself with groundcrew assignments and waiting to hear how the curriculum was taking.</p><p>We, instead, are treated to Iantine having a laugh and a marvel at the size and splendor of his quarters in Benden, compared to what he had received at Bitra, as Lady Jane shows him around, makes explicit comparisons to Bitra, and then leaves him to himself. The things Iantine notices about Lady Jane are that she seems very fluttery, and that she wears almost no jewels except her wedding band.</p><p>Then we jump back to Telgar Weyr, where K'vin and Zulaya are having a discussion about everything that's been observed and reported so far on the Weyrlings and their romantic behaviors. K'vin's concerned about Iantine and Debera, but Zulaya waves him off by pointing out that for as much as they are besotted with each other, they stayed in public places. Jule, on the other hand, has apparently already taken another rider to bed, before her dragon is going to start having flights. The chief concerns Zulaya has are not trying to push the Weyrlings into fighting sooner than absolutely necessary, and trying to figure out how to retire the older fighters without offending them or provoking them into doing dangerous things to prove their worth.</p><p>Eventually they settle on the idea of taking their fighting wings south under the pretense of looking for artifacts and checking on the spread and penetration of the grubs. K'vin worries that the grubs will replace the dragons, but Zulaya points out the obvious psychological benefits of dragons charring Thread, even if the grubs are a useful second line of defense. On the day of the excursion, the narrative stops to engage in making fun of Tisha's attempts to get on a dragon.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>The morning had its moment of humor: getting Tisha aboard brown Branuth had been a struggle, involving not only Branuth's rider, T'lel (who laughed so hard he had hiccups) but four other riders, the strongest and tallest.<br/>
[The dragon tries to see what's going on and gets a cramped neck for it.]<br/>
"Stop that and get up here, T'lel," Tisha was yelling, her thick legs stuck out at angles from her perch between the neck ridges. "I'll be split. And if I'm split, you'll suffer. I never should have said I'd come. I should know better than to leave my caverns for any reason whatsoever. This is <strong>very</strong> uncomfortable. Stop that guffawing, T'lel. Stop it right now. It isn't funny where I'm sitting. Get up here and let's go!"<br/>
Getting Tisha aboard Branuth had taken so much time that everyone else was in place and ready to go by the time T'lel did manage to get in front of Tisha.<br/>
"Not only am I being split, I'm also being bisected by these ridges. Did you sharpen them on purpose, T'lel? No wonder riders are so skinny. They'd have to be. Don't dragons grow ridges for large people? I should have had K'vin take me up. Charanth is a much bigger dragon...why couldn't you have put me on your bronze, K'vin?" Tisha shouted across the intervening space.<br/>
K'vin was trying to preserve his dignity as Weyrleader by not laughing at the sight of her, but he didn't dare look in her direction again.</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>I'm thoroughly displeased with this idea that Tisha is a comedy figure because she's a larger woman who needs assistance to get into a dragon that is too small for her. Why <em>can't</em> K'vin take her on his bronze? She's the headwoman of the Weyr, so presumably any questions about whether she's high enough in rank to be accorded the honor should be settled. It would make things easier for everyone. I'm also skeptical that there aren't stools or ladders people can use to mount dragons <em>and</em> that nobody has engineered a method for someone to sit side-saddle on a dragon, because there would have to have been a Lord Holder that complained loudly about how riding "split" was immodest and would provide views of his wife or daughters that nobody but her husband should be entitled to. This comedy routine shouldn't be present because it's making fun of someone because they're fat. But also because the conspicuous absence of basic technology in this regard is unbelievable.</p><p>The trip south goes without incident, and everyone immediately procrastinates on their duties to go have a romp in the sand and the water. Tisha gets off of Branuth by way of water landing, and everyone essentially strips their clothes off and goes for a swim.</p><p>The narrative decides that we need to go see characters that have until now only been mentioned in the background: P'tero, blue rider, and M'leng, green rider, who are weyrmates and both confirmed to be men. The two of them ask permission to go off and lounge, and eventually both end up shirtless and pantsless while their dragons are off hunting herdbeasts. P'tero has designs for their privacy, and waves off a warning of a strange smell from his dragon as just new smells of the South.</p><p>And then the lions attack them. I'll spare you the narrative part, but the gist is that both riders are hurt pretty badly, their dragons return and fight the lions, then more dragons arrive, led by Zulaya, and rip the lions apart in a fury. P'tero and M'leng pass out or are knocked unconscious, and that ends the chapter.</p><p>Nobody dies. Which is about the only grace I'm willing to give to this scene. As an earlier, younger reader, I wouldn't have noticed that the first time there are confirmed gay dragonriders on camera, about to have a romantic interlude, <em>they both get mauled by lions</em>, which both conveniently stops the author from having to write gay sex and affection and probably makes a lot of homophobic fans very, very happy that the narrative has finally condemned what it had been trying to bury and not draw attention to in setting up a society where promiscuous dragons would result in gay orgies happening in the regular.</p><p>I was ready to give at least a little yay for representation on screen, finally, after all this time, but no. No cookies at all when you put a gay couple on screen only to have them be seriously injured, and especially not in a chapter where you've spent time previously making fun of fat people. (Yes, this isn't actually a surprise to the people that have been following along with the comments made by the author about her understanding of gay men, but it's the first time those views have intruded solidly <em>in the text</em>. I would prefer the clinical medical language that minimizes the gay population of Weyrs to this.)</p><p>
  <i>[It's one of the most telling indictments of the writers that, despite the way they've set up the world and populated it with men, and even indicated that there are gay men, and set up in such a way that everyone is very clearly going to get involved in orgies where men are statistically likely to have sex with men, there's no on-screen men dragonriders having sex with men dragonriders. Only men with women, and for the most part, bronze riders with gold riders, who are the canonically het pairing. Even when we get to the Todd books, where we find out that watch-whers can have similar mating flight urges that affect those around them, Pellar is very specifically selected as a good partner by a woman, and then we get the fade-to-black on the assumption that Pellar is paired up with this woman for the entirety of the time he will be under the influence of the mating flights. Men having sex with men does not happen in the view of the narrative on Pern, despite it being referenced a lot (and we had that bit with Jule earlier about finding partners of your preference, in relation to blue riders being men who have sex with men) and it being something that statistically is likely to happen. But the authors aren't writing men having sex with men at all, and I suspect that's author beliefs and attitudes leaking through. There's got to be an entire brigade of fic that was/is written all about the men having good, happy, loving sex with each other, dragon-influenced or no, out there, even though the author was one of those people who insisted that control of the characters and setting was hers and hers alone and had very stringent rules about what was acceptable fic, when she relaxed enough to allow a space for it. There <strong>has</strong> to have been a strong slash fandom for these works, even if the works themselves continue to be "eh" quality.]</i>
</p><p>We're going to intrude in on Chapter XVI for a bit, because after having written the characters getting attacked and hurt, the author turns around and writes in a rather good description of the guilt and embarrassment that follows from such an incident.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>The shame of being attacked, of endangering M'leng, of being responsible for injuring nine dragons--when K'vin had particularly warned everyone to be careful--was almost more than he could bear. M'leng might say that P'tero saved his life--although he had to have his shoulder wound stitched--but P'tero knew that was incidental in the sequence of the attack.</p>
</blockquote><p>And as more details come in about what happened, the embarrassment grows. Because a makeshift camp has to be set up to make sure the injured heal before returning. Because it requires fetching medics to stitch people up and tend to them. Because they had set themselves up on top of the place where a den of lions were, thank you Ted Tubberman.</p><p>And it's not helping that there's a narrative being deliberately circulated that's untrue, at least in P'tero's eyes.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>He worried endlessly that M'leng would no longer love him, with such a scarred and imperfect body. M'leng, however, seemed to dwell so on P'tero's heroism in protecting him with his own body that the blue rider decided not to mention the fact that it had not been entirely voluntary. M'leng had been unconscious from the moment of attack and had a great lump and a cut in the back of his head as well as the wound on his shoulder.<br/>
Zulaya had arrived to see P'tero trying to remove the claws from M'leng's body, so there was little the blue rider could say to contradict the Weyrwoman's version.<br/>
Tisha, coming to give him fellis early one morning, found him in tears, positive that he had lost M'leng with such a marred body.<br/>
"Nonsense, my lad," Tisha had said, soothing back his sweaty hair as she held the straw for his fellis juice to his lips. "He will only see what you endured for his sake, to save him. And those scars will heal quite nicely, thanks to Corey's neat stitching."<br/>
The reference to the skill of the Head Medic almost reduced him to tears again. He'd caused so much fuss.</p>
</blockquote><p>Tisha continues to reassure P'tero that everything is fine, and the dragonriders needed a lesson in their own vulnerability, and that the ostensible mission of the trip south succeeded. I'm going to cut off here, because what follows on from this involves more people and also is a catalyst for something else I'm going to shout about next week.</p><p>P'tero is written excellently here, based on my own experiences of being so embarrassed that nothing else can penetrate, even as others try to put a more positive spin on it. And also the same about having done a thing that might have saved a life, even though to you it didn't seem noteworthy or heroic at all. P'tero would like very desperately to know that M'leng still loves him, despite his flaws, and also would like to be left alone, thank you, so as to have a proper processing and worry about everything that happened. If Pern had counselors, P'tero wants to see one who will help him work through his feelings and come to acceptance, instead of trying to spin him a new story and get him to accept what he knows isn't true.</p><p>And if he had someone to talk through things with, maybe what he'll get up to next time wouldn't have happened.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Profanity in Compound Meter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last time, the history-erasing crew celebrated more success, the dragonriders took a vacation, and the most amount of screen time devoted to an actual gay couple had then mauled by lions. If you thought this couldn't get worse, well, the narrative says "Hold my klah."</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapter XVI: Content Notes: Toxic Masculinity, Consent Violations, "She Really Secretly Wanted It"</strong>
</p><p>We last left P'tero recovering at Southern and feeling really horrible about how his actions led to the damage done to humans and dragons by the lions, and the fact that other people are being inconvenienced caring for him after his injuries. Because of him, several people have to stay longer in the South than originally envisioned, and they suffer consequences, too.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>It was three weeks before P'tero's wounds had healed sufficiently for the trip back. The makeshift infirmary had more patients since there were other hazards besides large hungry and territorially minded felines in the Southern Continent: the heat, unwary exposure to too much sun, and a variety of other injuries. Leopol got a thorn in his foot which had festered, so he joined P'tero in the infirmary shelter until the poison had drained.<br/>
Tisha and one of the Weyrfolk came down with a fever that had Maranis sending back to Fort for a medic more qualified than he in such matters. The woman recovered in a few days, but Tisha had a much harder time of it, sweating kilos off her big frame, to leave her so enervated Maranis was desperately worried about her. K'vin sent to Ista to beg a ship to transport her back North since he could not subject her to trying to climb aboard a dragon.<br/>
Her illness depressed everyone.<br/>
"You don't really know how important someone is," Zulaya said, having come down to reassure herself on the state of the convalescents, "until they're suddenly...not there!"<br/>
Her remark sunk P'tero's spirits. And Tisha was not there to jolly him out of his depression.</p>
</blockquote><p>What is it about the Southern Continent that gives people firehead fevers when they visit? There doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason to who is affected by it, but it airways seems to be there. And Leopol gets a thorn in his foot because Readis did, but this one isn't crippling, because Weyrfolk care and because it's not a clandestine mission in defiance of a parental ultimatum.</p><p>Also, because my good will meter is running a little short, I'm guessing that we're supposed to infer that Tisha gets the worse of the fever because she's fat. This is a case where the author might not know science that we do, because there's at least a few things published in our day that suggest fat people are sometimes better equipped to ride out certain diseases. That, and we also have HAES and understand that fat-shaming is a thing. Not one jot of this means anything to P'tero, who is still stuck in guilt and shame about having caused the whole series of events.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>M'leng was, and appeared in the shelter.<br/>
"How dare you be so self-centered?" the green rider said in a taut, outraged tone of voice.<br/>
"Huh?"<br/>
"Tisha's illness is <strong>not</strong> your fault. Leopol wasn't wearing shoes when he was told to and so his infected foot also isn't your fault. In fact, it isn't even your fault that we picked <strong>that</strong> rock out of all the ones we could have picked. It was <strong>bad</strong> luck, but nothing more, and I don't want Ormonth upsetting Sith anymore. D'you hear me?"<br/>
P'tero burst into tears. Just as he'd thought: M'leng didn't love him anymore.<br/>
Then M'leng's gentle arms went around him, and he was pulled into M'leng's chest and comforted with many caresses and kisses.<br/>
"Don't be such a stupid idiot, you stupid idiot. How could I <strong>not</strong> love you?"<br/>
Later P'tero wondered how he could ever have doubted M'leng.</p>
</blockquote><p>Never underestimate the ability of your partner to help you out of a funk. But also, it can be very difficult to break a loop like P'tero is going through, when it is very easy for him to believe he is the cause of it and that he could have avoided the whole thing by doing all sorts of things that make perfect sense in hindsight but that would often have required ESP or experience to have done beforehand. If this sounds familiar, it's the pattern that society often foists on the victims of crime, and especially women who suffer a sexual crime. There are things that women can do that increase their potential protection, but ultimately, it's up to the person committing the crime to not do that, and more often than not, a victim would have had to see through an attacker's front to the real person underneath. That's not always possible, and there are lots of times where even being able to see what's about to happen doesn't stop it from happening anyway.</p><p>M'leng is doing the right thing in avoiding victim-blaming.</p><p>When P'tero gets back, his and M'leng's weyrs have been repainted and given new fabrics. P'tero gets soft cushions for his bed and Z'gal and T'sen (another canonical gay couple!) gift him with a riding pad so that P'tero won't bruise his ass riding around (because P'tero is determined to be back in fighting form by Threadfall). M'leng caps off the celebration by giving P'tero an Iantine-commissioned painting of the event, as described by M'leng, which means P'tero looks a lot more heroic...and both of them still have their clothes on. (Ormonth wants to know where he is in the picture, apparently able to see the picture in P'tero's mind as he looks at it.) P'tero is...</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Wouldn't you rather have it?" P'tero suggested hopefully.<br/>
"I've a copy of my own. Iantine did two, one for each of us," M'leng said, beaming proudly at his lover.<br/>
So P'tero had to hang the wretched reminder of the worst day of his life on his own wall, just where he couldn't miss it every morning of his life when he woke up.<br/>
"You'll never know how much this means to me," he said, and that, too, was quite truthful.<br/>
No one thought it the least bit odd that he got very, very drunk on wine that night.</p>
</blockquote><p>...thoroughly embarrassed and definitely being pressured to go along with a narrative that he's definitely not comfortable with, because it makes a better story. We should probably keep an eye out for signs that P'tero is not handling it well. I hope he and M'leng get to have a heart-to-heart about how the painting makes him feel, how the whole heroism narrative makes him profoundly uncomfortable, and that he needs reassurance that M'leng loves him all the same, even though he's different now.</p><p>
  <i>[One of the comments on the original suggested that M'lemg had the thing painted in the style of <a href="https://www.borisjulie.com/product-category/prints/boris-prints/">Boris Vallejo</a>, which is entirely charming and completely in character. Another style possibility I think would work is <a href="https://www.out.com/art/2019/6/28/tom-finlands-sketches-black-men-star-new-no-sesso-collaboration">Tom of Finland</a>, even though we were already told that Iantine's commission had far more clothes on than what actually happened.]</i>
</p><p>The narrative shifts over to K'vin, Zulaya, and B'nurrin making secret plans to go with and observe the Threadfall that will be blistering the Southern Continent. B'nurrin admits he wants to go because he's "...scared [he'll] be needing clean pants half a dozen times the first Fall [he has] to lead." and eventually the two Weyrleaders make their pact. Zulaya then volunteers herself along.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Well, queens' wings fly a lot lower into danger than the rest of the Weyr does. Makes it quicker for me to change <strong>my</strong> pants, but that doesn't mean I want to <strong>have</strong> to."</p>
</blockquote><p>Which sounds like a pretty solid boast from Zulaya, but also a little bit of trying hard to sound like the boys for what I have envisioned of Zulaya's personality.</p><p>The narrative then whisks us away to Bitra Hold (Under New Management), where Paulin is showing the reinvigorated Jamson around. (Jamson's only fault about his son's management in his absence is that he voted to impeach Chalkin.) The narrative goes to several paragraphs of showing us how things have improved greatly in Thread preparation and grounds maintenance, before taking everyone into Vergerin's office, which is similarly lavished with good descriptions. There's also a mention of how Vergerin is paying for all of this - he found Chalkin's stash hiding in one of the steps.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"It's been a lifesaver, both to return unnecessary tithings and to buy in supplies. One thing Chalkin for do correctly was keep records. I knew exactly how much he had extorted from his people."<br/>
Jamson cleared his throat testily.<br/>
"Well, he did, Lord Jamson," Vergerin said without cavil. "They hadn't even enough in stores to get by on this winter, let alone reserves for Fall. I'm still unloading what we couldn't possibly use from what Chalkin had amassed." He gave a mirthless laugh. "Chalkin would have weathered all fifty years of the Pass from what he had on hand--but none of his people would have lasted the first year, let alone have the materials to safeguard what they could plant out. Bitra being established after the First Fall, there were no hydroponics sheds, although the tanks are stored below."<br/>
Jamson gave another snort. "And the gaming? Have you curtailed that?"<br/>
"Both here and elsewhere," Vergerin said, flushing a little. "I haven't so much touched dice or card since that game with Chalkin."<br/>
"What about his gamesmen?"<br/>
Vergerin's smile was grim. "They had the choice of signing new contracts with me--for I will not honor the old ones--or leaving. Not many left."<br/>
S'nan barked out a cackle of a laugh. "Not many would, considering the hazards of being holdless during a Pass. You have done well, Vergerin." He nodded an emphasis.</p>
</blockquote><p>We are reminded once again that the difference between heroes and villains is that the narrative approves of the actions of one and disapproves of the actions of the other. The gamesters are over a barrel - they can either sign new contracts or be turned out (without references, presumably) into a world that is about to rain death upon them. It's a false choice, and should raise some eyebrows about similarly of tactics between these related people. But no, so long as Vergerin keeps the company line, they won't oust him.</p><p>This also continues to suggest that there are Bitrans stashed just about everywhere else in the world, running games and funneling their profit back to Bitra Hold proper. I can't quite figure out the mechanics of the banking system that would be needed for it to work and not be rife with robbery, but then again, maybe Bitrans are the ones who do banking, too.</p><p>I'm also skeptical of the claim that Chalkin could have stayed fifty years without running out of food. Admittedly, a good prepper could probably make a go at it, but the technology level here doesn't seem to support the idea of being able to preserve food for fifty years, unless someone has been studying the conditions and techniques used that can produce the jar of wine or oil that stays sealed for millennia in perfect conditions.</p><p>As for the visit, S'nan and Jamson gear up to inspect the property, wanting Vergerin to stay behind so he can't influence the outcome, before the visitors notice that Chalkin's portrait has been hung prominently in the view of exiting the office, and that Iantine has restored it to the original realistic idea he envisioned, where we are told that Chalkin had "close-set eyes, bad complexion, scanty hair, and the mole on his chin." In case anyone wondered whether Chalkin looked evil as well as behaved that way.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Jamson harrumphed several times. "And Chalkin? How's he doing?"<br/>
Paulin shrugged and looked to S'nan.<br/>
"He was supplied with all he needs," the Weyrleader said. "There is no need to exacerbate his expulsion by further contact."<br/>
"And his children?" Jamson asked, eyes glinting coldly.<br/>
Vergerin grinned, ducking his head. "I feel they have improved in health, well-being, and self-discipline."<br/>
"They stood in great need of the latter," Paulin said.<br/>
"They may surprise you, Lord Paulin," Vergerin said with a sly smile.<br/>
"I could bear it."<br/>
"As the branch is bent, so it will grow," Jamson intoned piously.</p>
</blockquote><p>Pious to what, exactly, given that Pern is still nominally areligious? But also, there's a thread here that suggests there was more than just talking applied to the children to get them with the program. It comes back after the the three peek in on a lesson from Issony where the children are present and participating.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Issony's been right that those youngsters needed competition. The holder kids need no incentives: they want to learn, and Chaldon is determined not to let mere holders get better grades than he. Oh, there's still whinings and pleadings and tantrums, but Issony has my permission to deal with them. And he does, most effectively."</p>
</blockquote><p>Now, if we recall the last major conversation about classroom discipline, many of them, Issony included, said that things only got better in the classroom when teachers could beat their students with impunity. While nobody is saying it outright, I think the context and the phrasing is enough for us to assume that corporal punishment is the method preferred and "effective" for keeping the children in line. [Probably with some extra speed and force for Chalkin's kids, since it's less likely that anyone will care if they get beaten harder and more, because they're the children of the villain, so they need "extra" discipline.]</p><p>Which becomes even more horrible in the next paragraph, when that implication could be extended to Chalkin's Lady as well.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"Nadona?" Paulin asked.<br/>
Vergerin raised his eyebrows. "She's learning much the same lessons as her children, but she's not as quick a study, as Issony would say. She has her own quarters," and he inclined his head toward the upper levels. "She stays within."<br/>
"And leaves you to get along with the real work?" Paulin asked in a droll tone.<br/>
"Exactly."</p>
</blockquote><p>Satisfied with the tour, Paulin makes to leave and the other two join in. S'nan is not fond of the idea of gambling in the Weyr or other gamesters loose to cause trouble at Gathers, but Paulin and the narrative regard S'nan as stuffy and otherwise old-fashioned, and we are supposed to as well, as if the idea of a leader having large debts that could be called in or used as blackmail material isn't something for everyone to be concerned about with regard to the integrity of their government.</p><p>In any case, the narrative returns to a livid K'vin giving P'tero a dressing-down and suspension from his fighting wing for trying to get back into the saddle too soon, before he's completely healed up. The evidence is in the riding pad he received, spotted with old and new blood from the reopening wounds. P'tero is dismayed.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>"But...but...Thread's nearly here!" P'tero cried in anguish, almost in tears with frustration and the fear of being unable to show M'leng just how brave he really was. Not mock-brave, like the lion attack, but real brave in selflessness in the air.</p>
</blockquote><p>K'vin is having exactly none of this macho bullshit from P'tero and repeats his grounding orders before stalking off in rage. When his dragon tells him that P'tero's dragon tried to stop it, K'vin demands that he be told immediately if there's someone or some dragon not one hundred percent fit for duty. Zulaya's queen tells him that she would never have let anyone get into real danger and he tells her off, too, as he heads to where Zulaya is. Having her queen spoken to that way sets Zulaya off, and the two of them look to have a hashing-out, except</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Zulaya stared at him, surprised, for K'vin had never reprimanded her or Meranath, those she had to admit privately that he could have legitimately done so on several occasions she would be embarrassed to admit.</p>
</blockquote><p>So Zulaya adopts a more conciliatory tone while K'vin continues to thunder on about how he needs every rider ready and not to have secrets withheld from him.</p><p>If you're wondering about the tone shift, because Zulaya has not deferred to K'vin before and generally kept her anger in company, you're not alone. But don't worry, the author has a reason for this. You see...</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>He began pacing now, and Zulaya watched him, smiling with relief and pride. He was going to be a splendid Weyrleader, much better than B'ner would have been.<br/>
He halted, just short of where she stood, his eyes, brilliant with his anger and frustration, fixed on her face.<br/>
"What on earth can you find to grin about right now?" he demanded, suspiciously, for there was a quality in her smile that he'd never seen before.<br/>
"That you're in full control," she said, leaving her smile in place.<br/>
"Oh, I am, am I?" Then, as she had always hoped he would, he took her in his arms be began kissing her with the full authority of his masculinity and his position as her Weyrleader, without a trace of hesitation or deference. Just what she'd always hoped she'd provoke him to.</p>
  <p>K'vin was still very much in complete control even very early the next morning, before dawn in fact, when Meranath told them that B'nurrin and Shanna were waiting for them.</p>
</blockquote><p>
  <i>[Two cocowhats in succession, then...]</i>
</p><p>
  <iframe></iframe>
</p><p>
<i>[The Cat That Knocks Stuff Off, With The Caption "Fuck This, Fuck That, Fuck Everything"]</i>
</p><p>
<i>[And one more cocowhat, because auuuuuugh...]</i>
</p><p>...it was all a <em>test</em>, you see, to bring out K'vin's latent control and dominance so that he would be able to lead effectively. Y'know, to become the very thing he <em>just shut P'tero down <strong>hard</strong> for</em>. (And sensibly, too, I might add - bravado would likely get people hurt or killed in actual Threadfall.) Because Zulaya apparently wanted to groom K'vin into being the kind of Alpha Male Dom she wanted as a partner, and apparently didn't get from B'ner.</p><p>This is <em>terrible</em> writing, from a craft perspective. You don't have a character give someone grief for doing a thing and then get rewarded for doing the same thing unless you want the reader to notice the hypocrisy. </p><p>This change of Zulaya almost certainly relies on people having read previous books in the series, or relying on being properly Genre Savvy about romance tropes, to know that when someone behaves in this aggressive, dubious-to-nonconsensual way toward a woman, it's what she secretly wants and she'll surrender to passion and lovemaking and the partner that displays enough (toxic) masculinity to win her. There are spots of foreshadowing earlier, if you count Zulaya smiling when K'vin makes a firm decision after she has offered him an alternate choice to go along with his suggestion as foreshadowing this outcome, instead of any of the hundreds of other reasons why someone might smile at that point.</p><p>Let's also talk about what a <em>terrible</em> plan this is! Zulaya intends to goad and provoke K'vin, who clearly has the hots for her, to the point where he doesn't care about anything other than getting his way, regardless of the consequences. She wants him to override her consent and dismiss her suggestions as a sign of true leadership. In anything but a carefully negotiated kinky relationship, this is going to be a disaster, and it's erasing qualities that will be good for K'vin when it comes to leadership, like taking advice from field officers and benching fliers desperate to prove their machismo to their mates. If it is supposed to be a part of a good kinky relationship, Zulaya never actually articulated this and found out whether K'vin wanted to participate before doing this to him. Consent violations and manipulative behavior do not a good play partner make.</p><p>And if this were the end of the chapter, or the book, then that would certainly be a note to end on, but no, there's still more. Because now it's time to go South and observe Threadfall before having to fight it.</p><p>But I'm going to stop here so that I can avoid filling page after page of swears about how all of this turned out. Back next week with more plot.</p><p>
  <i>[This is novelish, in the sense that instead of it being a man overriding the consent of the woman, it's the woman doing things nonconsensually to the man. The commenters on the original point out that the narrative talking about how Kylara goads, prods, and otherwise tries to get her men to beat her and treat her like dirt because she likes things that way, is pretty similar to this, although there's at least the possibility that Kylara, through her actions, indicated she consented and was seeking consent from her partner to that kind of treatment. Zulaya hasn't ever asked if the relationship they've had, where Zulaya keeps her distance from K'vin as a ways of getting him to learn how to lead and take charge, is what K'vin has actually wanted, or consented to, or even has an inkling that Zulaya is waiting for him to prove himself to her before making their relationship more personal. K'vin is supposed to magically intuit what Zulaya really wants, even as she seems to be giving him pretty explicit signals about what she really wants. (Although other characters seem to believe that Zulaya is flirting pretty heavily with K'vin, even as she gives him signals that she's not interested in him.)</i>
</p><p>
  <i>This is definitely not a way to run a relationship, and especially not a way to run a kinky one. It's not even a new twist on old tropes, because there are plenty of works already that run on these ideas and have explored them, including the previous volumes of Pern, with men finding out or intuitively knowing what the women in their lives want. Even several years on, this is a betrayal of the possibility of having a purely professional relationship and an indulgence in a trope that was already dead by the time we get here.]</i>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Anticlimax</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Last chapter, Vergerin was held up as a model of virtue, because the narrative likes him, and K'vin finally got Zulaya by behaving how she wanted him to all along - right after K'vin rightly chewed another rider out for his own toxic masculinity. I'm still steamed about that, so we should just finish the book.</p><p>
  <strong>Dragonseye: Chapters XVI and XVII: Content Notes: </strong>
</p><p>When we last left the new couple, they were about to sneak off on a clandestine observation of Thread in the south. K'vin and Zulaya find out they are <em>far</em> from the only dragonriders to have had the same idea and time for observation.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Consequently, he was perhaps not as surprised as he might have been to realize the airspace around them, and Meranath and Zulaya, was well occupied. With that extra sense dragons had, the two had averted a collision.</p>
</blockquote><p>So it is canonical, then, that dragons do not just warp themselves out wherever they are envisioned, but do make adjustments for the presence of others. Then weyrling accidents are because juvenile dragons don't have that sense fully developed? (If so, though, Moreta's jump to nowhere should have thrown an error somewhere, along with any of the other dragons that do the same thing, since they are all mature enough to know better.) <i>[This would otherwise scratch a major plot point of one of the Todd novels, except it could be argued that the plague that's affecting the dragons also messes with their ability not to telefrag each other and to not just jump to nowhere. And, there's the whole tradition of dragons and riders making the decision to jump one-way to hyperspace together to die together with dignity. Still, it should be a lot harder for any dragon and rider partnership to accidentally kill themselves than it apparently is.]</i></p><p>In any case, the plan might be to just observe, but the dragons themselves have other ideas about that.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p><strong>Thread!</strong><br/>
The word seemed to rumble from dragon to dragon, and K'vin had to grab hold of the neck ridge as Charanth started to lurch toward what he had known all his life as his adversary.<br/>
<strong>I have no firestone! How can I flame it! What is wrong? Why have you brought me here where there is Thread and I have no fire to char it!<br/>
It's all right, Charanth. We're here to watch. To see.<br/>
But it is Thread! I must chew to flame. Why may I not flame when there is THREAD!</strong><br/>
[...K'vin tries to reason with Charanth, and notices other riders having similar trouble...]<br/>
Then, all of a sudden, Charanth stopped flying toward Thread.<br/>
<strong>Oh, all right!</strong> The tone was that of a petulant child forced by a senior authority to follow orders totally against the grain.</p>
</blockquote><p>So the queens kick in the override they have (and that Menolly observed in her fire lizard fair) and everyone lands and calms their dragons, before sheepishly admitting that perhaps this idea wasn't quite as brilliant as they had envisioned. And having a laugh at it. Before someone thinks to thank the queens for their help.</p><p>Then everyone present is told that this meeting never happened, before K'vin suggests that the Weyrleaders should agree to rotate wings from every Weyr in for the first few sessions of Threadfall so as to give them practice before the actual thing happens in their neighborhood. Everyone present agrees to the idea, with the seniormost Weyrleader agreeing to present it to S'nan, so that he will listen and agree to it as well.</p><p>And that actually closes the chapter out.</p><p>Chapter XVII is essentially, "And then Thread came, and they fought Thread beautifully." There's some tweaking of S'nan for being serious about things, and lots of description of how the fighting goes, but it's all from K'vin's perspective, and in the jumble of everything, he can't really focus much on anything other than what's in front of him and whether his wings are staying in the formation.</p><p>There is one bit to draw attention to, mostly as the coda to P'tero and M'leng.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>K'vin briefly thought of P'tero's vain attempt to be included in the fighting force Telgar would launch. Maybe he should have put the blue rider in, sore ass and all, to prove that there was a lot more to fighting Thread than having the guts to do it. But to include P'tero would have been to exclude a perfectly healthy and less erratic rider. K'vin had not selected M'leng of the green riders chosen for the First Fall. That would ease discord between that pair: that one had gone and the other had not. Basically, they were good weyrmates, having a reasonably stable relationship ever since P'tero, who was the younger, had Impressed Ormonth.</p>
</blockquote><p>So it ends well for them, at least at this point. It's always possible their partnership will be cut short by tragedy, but K'vin exercises good leadership by not putting salt in P'tero's ass. As he said when giving P'tero his talking-to, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.</p><p>Yes, that's a big gloss over an entire chapter, but the actual fighting mechanics of the dragons haven't changed since we saw them before. Flame in formation, all the way through, turn, reload, flame again. Queens pick up the stragglers and help the ground crews catch and roast burrows before they go too far. This first official fall happens over Bitra, of course, because otherwise the plot wouldn't have nearly as much impact and Vergerin wouldn't be able to have a pat on the back for getting the hold right with Jesus...err, the dragonriders.</p><p>Let's take a look at what's next...oh, fsck. The next recommended book is The Masterharper of Pern. Well, at least it was nice having a book that didn't have Robinton's hands in it before we get his biography.</p><p>So...thanks for sticking around with this book, and also, go support your local public library. Without them, this series would be both expensive and painful. Thanks to the library, it's just painful.</p>
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